Full Length Research Paper

Commercial horticultural practice in Nigeria: Its socio-spatial effects in Lagos city

Albert Ayorinde Abegunde¹*, Emmanuel Olufemi Omisore¹, Olufunmilayo ‘Fumbi Oluodo² and Daniel Olaleye¹ 

¹Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Obafemi Awolowo Univeristy, Ile Ife, Nigeria.

²Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Rufus Giwa Polytechnics, Owo, Ondo State, Nigeria.

*Corresponding author. E -mail: abajesulo@yahoo.com.

Accepted 31 August, 2009

   Abstract

Street-by-street distribution of urban horticultural garden in Eti-Osa local government area of Lagos State, Nigeria was carried out with a view to understanding their socio-spatial effects on urban land use and development. The local government has two residential communities (Ikoyi and Victoria Island). A total number of 75 gardens were identified and the study purposively selected all of them for questionnaire administration. Sixty three (63) managers of the horticultural gardens were available for interview. It was observed that a greater percentage of the studied horticultural gardens are oriented towards monetary gains (79.4%) and are concentrated in Ikoyi (74.6%) than Victoria Island (25.4%). The gardens occupied about 0.25% of the total land area in Eti-Osa Local Government Area. The mean area used for the horticultural practice is 885.32 m. The minimum plot coverage of the area used for the practice is 100 m² while the maximum is 3,500 m². The gardens have inadequate set backs to roads, with their mean being 1. 45 m. This results in off street parking by motorists who were customers to these horticulturists, causing traffic congestion in the area. Twenty percent of the horticulturists get into the practice with the primary aim of improving the aesthetic value of the urban space. The study evidently showed that it becomes imperative for urban planners to educate these horticulturists to rate urban aesthetics above economic gain accrued from the practice of horticulture in the built environment.

Key words: Built environment, commercial horticulture, garden, green space, socio-spatial, urban planning.