Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing: Two main forms of agriculture are prominent in the state namely, food crop production and industrial crop production. The food crops produced include rice, yam, cassava, fruits and vegetables (mangoes, pawpaw, pineapples, banana, pepper and toma toes). These crops are produced over the wide range of ecological zones within the state with the exception of the mangrove swamp and the coastal sand areas.
The industrial crops include rubber, oil palm and palm kernel. Like food crops, the indus trial crops are grown in all ecological zones with the exception of the mangrove swamp and the coastal sand areas. Rubber is the leading export crop in the state. The highest concentration of rubber is in Ethiope, Okpe and Ughelli, which together have 61,200 hectares. Other locations include Aniocha (8,400 hectares) and Ndokwa (8,800 hectares).
Annual yield per hectare averages about 180 kilo grams dry rubber on peasant farms rising to approximately 370 kilograms on plantations. Oil palm is the next leading export crop. The highest concentration of oil palm occurs in Ethiope, Isoko, Ughelli, Ndokwa, Burutu and Bomadi LGAs. There are only a few oil palm plantations.
The yield per hectare of plantation is about four times as much as the yield from wild oil palm trees, which produce the bulk of palm oil traded in the state. Among some of the programmes introduced to improve agricultural resource productivity of the state is the Tree Crop Unit. This programme is designed to aid small holder farmers to plant high yielding oil palm and rubber seedlings, with a view to raising their production.
The oil palm project is being implemented in two large nurseries located at EjemeUno in AniochaSouth Local Government Area and Mosogar in Ethiope North Local Government Area. Thirty thousand sprouted palm seeds established in the two nurseries in the State are being maintained.
The rubber project is cur rently being implemented in Abraka and Mutu nurs eries. The forestry resources of Delta State consist of timber, leaves (for wrapping kolanut), ropes and wild life. The forest contains over 500 species of timber, which attain 0.6 metres in girth at the breast height. Only eighty species are currently being har vested. Also, 80 per cent of the timber are from for est reserves white 20 per cent are from outside for est reserves.
The estimated total area of the forest reserve is 74,910 hectares distributed in various locations in the state as indicated in Table 10.2. Since the southwest and southeastern parts of the state are predominately riverine, the occupa tion of the inhabitants is fishing.
The methods of catching vary from the traditional to modern, but the majority of the fishermen use gill nets. In an effort to reduce the side ratio between fish demand and supply, the following five programmes are being executed in the state:
Fisheries Extension and Assistance to Fishermen: The programme is aimed at the dis semination of information for the improvement of fisheries production. So far, 5,000 people in regis tered fisheries cooperatives in the state are bene fiting from the scheme.
Fish Farming (Aquaculture): The aquaculture scheme is out to boost fishery production. So far, there are over eighty fishponds throughout the state. The government also maintains its own fish farms located atAgbor and Deghele to demonstrate the utility of fish farms.
Coastal Fisheries: The coastal fisheries agenda is designed to provide landing and other shore base facilities for production, handling and storage of fish caught along the state's coastal waters.
ECOWAS Fund Loan For Accelerated Fish Production: The ECOWAS project is aimed at pro viding credit to fishermen for the financing of fishing inputs to 350 fishing units or fishing families. Finally, there is the Fisheries Regulation designed at sanitising fisheries exploitation in the state, with a view towards conservation and use of approved fishing methods tor harvesting.
Mineral Resources: Delta State is rich in min erals. The Cretaceous Tertiary and Quaternary sediments, which underlay the delta structural basin, are favourable tor the formation of crude oil accumulation. With the exception of the Northeast, other parts of the state abound in crude oil resources and natural gas.
Nonmetalic (Industrial) minerals in the state consist of petroleum (crude oil), natural gas, lignite, silica sand and clay. Crude oil occurs in all the local government areas, except in the northeast of the State. The offshore locations are around Escravos and Forcados. Delta State produces about 29.98 per cent of the total oil production in Nigeria. Natural gas occurs in association with crude oil.
Estimated reserves amount to 800 million cubic metres. Of the total gas production of about 2,000 million cubic metres a month, only 12 million cubic metres are used as fuel and 11 million cubic metres are sold.' The balance is flared. Delta State is at present producing a large proportion of the Nigerian natural gas. Although lignite occurs in large commercial quantities, its exploitation is yet to commence.
Very large deposits of silica sand occur in different litho logical formations and along the beds of rivers and streams in the state. They are used in the manu facture of various kinds of glass silica, which is the most important raw material for glass production. Finally, the Tertiary and Quaternary formations con tain some layers of clay. These are particularly in abundance in Ughelli where stream clays are used for moulding in the glass factory.
Outside the riverine area, there is a high density of streams, ponds and lakes as well as a large body of ocean water, while the underground water is related to the underlying sedimentary rock formation. In many places, the underground water is so close to the surface in the southern areas that swampy con ditions prevail.
Local Sourcing of Raw Materials: The natural resource potentials of Delta State yield wide ranging agricultural and industrial mineral products, from which raw materials can be sourced locally for the establishment of industries.
For instance, agricultural raw materials for agroallied industries include: maize, yam, cassava, fruits, vegetables, rubber, oil palm, palm kernel, timber, rope, leaves, et cetera. Raw materials for heavy, medium and light industries include steel billet, carbon black polypropylene, petroleum, natural gas, bitumen, lig nite, silica sand and clay.
Historical Development: The area called Delta State was once an integral part of the old Western Region of Nigeria. It became an autonomous entity on August 27, 1991 after having been part of the old Midwestern State (1963 1976) and the defunct Bendel State (1976 1991).
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| Warri Refinery |
Delta State started with twelve local government areas. These were split further into nineteen local governments on September 27, 1991, and to twentyfive LGAs in 1997. Asaba, located at the northern end of the state, is the capital. A master plan for Asaba Capital Territory, with an estimated area of 762 sq. km and designed to transform Asaba into a modern metrop olis, is being pursued by the state government.
Location: Delta State lies roughly between longitudes 5�00 and 6�45'E and latitudes 5�00 and 6�30'N. It has a total land area of 16,842 sq. km. The states bordering Delta State are Edo to the north, Ondo to the northwest, Anambra to the east and Bayelsa and Rivers to the southeast. On its southern flank is 160 km of the coastline of the Bight of Benin.
Administrative Areas: Delta State currently has twentyfive local government areas. They are: Aniocha North, Aniocha South, Bomadi, Burutu, Ethiope East, Ethiope West, lka NorthEast, lka South, Isoko North, Isoko South, Ndokwa East, Ndokwa West Okpe, Oshimili North Oshimili South, Patani, Sapele, Udu, Ughelli North, Ughelli South, Ukwani, Uvwie, Warri North, Warri South and Warri SouthWest.
Administrative Structure: Delta State runs a twotier system of government namely; the state government and the local government administration.
The State Government: There are three arms of government which include the executive council, the legislature and the judiciary. The executive council comprises the Governor, Deputy Governor, seven commissioners, special advisers and the secretary to the state government. The commissioners head the ministries while the directorates and parastatals are organs in the office of the governor and deputy governor, respectively.
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| Chief Nana's Palace, Koko |
The special advisers are assigned responsibilities usually in the following areas: information, paras tatals, education, health, commerce and industry. The Delta State House of Assembly is the leg islative or lawmaking arm of the government. Currently, the membership of the State House of Assembly is fifty.
The Chief Judge of the state heads the state's judiciary. The judiciary is organised around a sys tem of courts, which are of three different kinds namely the High Court, the Magistrates' Court and the Customary Court. There is also a Customary Court of Appeal to hear appeal cases from the Customary Courts.
The Local Government: The second tier of government, is the local government administration. It consists of two arms of government in each of the local government administration. The first, the executive committee comprises the chairman of the local government, the deputy chairman, supervisors and secretary to the local government. The second, the legislative council is the lawmaking arm of the local government. The principal officers of the legislative council are; the speaker, deputy speaker, majority and minority leaders.
