Abstract

The study focused on effects of crude oil pollution on horticultural crops in Rivers State, Nigeria. Multistage sampling procedure was used to obtain data from 17 local government areas. A total of 296 questionnaires were analysed to obtain the results. The results showed that average hectare of horticultural farm cultivated was smaller in crude oil polluted farms (1.04ha) than in non polluted farms (1.17ha). The results also revealed that output of horticultural crops in crude oil polluted farms (15.98tons) were lower than in non-polluted farms (18.75 tons), while farm income realised per farm was also lower in crude oil polluted farms ($324.70) than in non-polluted farms ($365.84). The values of output and farm income of fruits, banana, pepper, okra, leafy vegetables and melon were higher in non-polluted farms. This study concluded that crude oil pollution had detrimental and negative effects on horticultural crops output, farm income and area of farmland cropped.