Benue State University, Makurdi

QUANTIFICATION OF THE ORGANOCHLORINE PESTICIDES CONTENT OF OROGODO RIVER AGBOR, DELTA – NIGERIA FOR CAGE AQUACULTURE IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS: A RECIPE FOR YOUTHS EMPOWERMENT AND FOOD SECURITY

Ogwu Chukwudi, PhD^*
Department of Vocational Education Agricultural Science Unit Delta State University, Abraka, Nigeria

Abstract

Food is a basic necessity of life. Health and economic growth of a nation is predicated on its ability to provide its citizens access to good quality food at all times as enshrined in Millenium Development Goal. I. One of such is Youths involvement in aquaculture. Good quality water is a factor in aquaculture especially cage aquaculture. The focus of this study therefore is on the analysis of the organochlorinepesticides content of Orogodo River Agbor Boji Boji for its suitability for cage aquaculture in secondary schools. The design of this study was ex-post facto. Three research questions were answered and a hypothesis tested. To achieve this, Orogodo River was mapped out into 5 research stations. Water samples were collected from 10 sampling spots in each of the research stations, bulked and composite samples drawn and fixed with HNO 3 for analysis. The analytical methods employed were Liquid Chromatography (LC) and Mass Spectroscopy (MS) adopting APHA, CAEM and ATI standards. The mean results of the organochlorine pesticides in Orogodo River were; á-lindane 4.39±0.79, adrin, 27.03±5.03, diedrin, 11.89±1.10, endrin, 53.17±5.77 and DDT, 11.76±0.82. The mean results of the organochlorine pesticides concentrations in Orogodo River were subjected to test of significance with ANOVA at 0.05 level of significance with numerator 4 and denominator 20. The F-ratio calculated value was 4.08 while F-ratio critical value was 2.87, thus accepting H O and rejecting H A which means that the organochlorine pesticides concentration in Orogodo River are higher than the WHO maximum allowable concentration. The study thus recommended that cage culture should not be carried out in Orogodo River. It was also recommended that remediation should be carried out to decontaminate Orogodo River of organochlorine pesticides and a study of the pollutant sources be commissioned.