EXPOSURE, BELIEVABILITY AND COMPLIANCE OF ANAMBRA NORTH FARMERS TO EARLY WARNING MESSAGES ON FLOOD

Using the flood years of 2019, 2020 and 2022 as benchmark, this study examines the exposure, believability and compliance of farmers in Anambra North to early warning messages on flood mitigations. As the government, relevant bodies and agencies have raised concerns by introducing the use of early warning messages as mitigations measures, negative effects of flood are still felt especially among farmers who face multifaceted losses yearly, necessitating the need for this academic inquiry. Anchored on the Protection Motivation Theory, this study employed the survey method as the research design while the questionnaire served as the instrument for data collection. A Sample size of 500 respondents was selected through the multi-stage sampling approach from a total population of the farmers of cooperative societies in Anambra North Senatorial Zone. The study revealed that 98% of the farmers were affected by flood during the years under review. Majority of them (73.2%) were exposed to early warning messages prior to the flood events but most of the farmers do not believe most of the measures advocated by the early warning messages. Findings further revealed that compliance to the flood early warning massages were generally low among the farmers as most of them did not relocate or observe other safety measures. The study concludes that there is still a gap between the level of exposure, believability and compliance to the flood early warning messages. It was recommended among others that efforts should be made to educate the populace on the damages of flood and that flood resistant IDP centres should be sited in the flood vulnerable communities.