Relief And Geology: Katsina State, covering an area 23,938 sq. km., is located between lati tudes 11°08'N and 13°22'N and longitudes 6°52'E and 9°20'E. The state is bounded by Niger Republic to the north, by Jigawa and Kano States to the east, by Kaduna State to the South and by Zarnfara State to the West. Katsina State forms part of the extensive plains known as the High Plains of Hausaland.

The Legendary kusugu Well

The state is composed of undulating plains which generally rise gently from 360m in the northeast around Daura, to 600m around Funtua in the southwest. Generally, the state has two geological regions. The south and central parts of the state are underlain by crystalline rocks of the Basement Complex (from Funtua to DutsimMa), but in the northern parts cretaceous sediments overlap the crystalline rocks.

The KatsinaDaura Plains lie at a lower base level than other parts of the state. Southwards of the Katsina Daura plains, is the flat to gently undulating surface which is the end result of years of erosion action on the surface rock. In areas around Funtua and DutsinMa, there are numerous Quartzatic and granitic hills which rise 60200m above the surrounding plains. These hills are probably the result of the intrusion of older granites into the basement complex which have undergone long periods of denudation ( Buchanan and Pugh, 1955).

Drainage: Major rivers which originate in or traverse the state include; the Koza, Sabke, Tagwai and Gada systems in the northern half of the state (all flowing either north or northwestwards). Rivers in the south include the Karaduwa, Bunsuru, Gagare, Turami, Sokoto, Tubo, Chalawa and Galma rivers (flowing either north west, southeast or east).

However, all these river systems contain water in their channels only during the rainy season and have little or no water in the dry season. Among them, rivers Gada, Karaduwa and Sabke have been dammed mainly for irrigation purposes and the Dams are known as Jibia, Zobe and Daberam dams respectively.

Climate: The state can be classified into two zones climaticallytropical continental and semi arid continental. The south of the state (from Funtua to DutsimMa) belong to the former with total annual rainfall figures ranging from 1000mm around Funtua to over 800m around DutsimMa.

The Emir's Palace , Daura

The north of Katsina State (from around Kankia to the extreme northeast) has total rainfall figures ranging from 600700mm annually. Generally, climate varies considerably according to months and sea sons.

They are: a cool dry (harmattan) season from December to February; a hot dry season from March to May; a warm wet season from June to September; a less marked season after rains during the months of October to November, characterised by decreasing rainfall and a gradual lowering of temperature.

Soils: In Katsina state, underlying rocks are overlain by sandy 'drift' deposits laid down during the last arid phase about twelve thousand years ago. In the Southern part of the state, the covering material is largely clayey soil, about five metres in depth and very fine in texture.

The soils are difficult to work, tending to become waterlogged with heavy rains and to dry out and crack during the dry season. The characteristic crops of this area include: cotton, maize and guinea corn.

In the north, the drift deposits are more coarse, resulting in light sandy soils of buff or reddish colours of low medium fertility. These soils are easily worked and well suited to crops such as millet and groundnut which are less demanding in their requirement than cotton, maize and guinea corn.

Vegetation: The southern half of the state belongs to the Northern Guinea Savannah Zone, while the north belongs to the Sudan Savannah Zone. The vegetation in the south thus consists of broadleaved species with tall tussocky grasses of guinea affinities, mixed up with fineleaved species of thorny trees with continuous short and feathery grass cover.

''Kofar Guga''- The Kastina City Gate

The northern districts consist of trees that grow long tap roots and thick barks that make it possible for them to withstand the long dry season and bush fires. The grass cover here too has durable roots which remain underground after stalks are burnt away or wilted in the dry season only to germinate with the first rains.

The existing vegetation in Katsina State is a function of many years of human interference and degradation. Exploitation of the vegetation has been largely for fuelwood, cultivation, grazing and fire. This degradation has been exacerbated in recent years as a result of decreasing rainfall since 1965 by about 30 per cent and especially after the drought of the early 1970s.

Wood is scarce in the state as only 12 per cent of the total area is forested. Furthermore, most of the forest reserves have few standing trees the state. Hence, the Forest Department restricts fuelwood cutting to the Guinea Savannah areas of the state. Nonetheless, all forest reserves are regarded as grazing reserves.

There is an afforestation programme in the state which is geared towards the establishment of plantations, woodlots, shelterbelts and trees on farmlands. Trees planted under the programme, which was supported by the European Economic Commission (EEC) and the Federal Government include Azadirachta Indica (Neem), Acadia species and Eucalyptus. Seedlings, cattlewire fencing and extension services are also provided free to farmers in the northern part of the state.

Ecological Problems: The state suffers from the perennial ecological problems of drought, desertification and the menace of pest invasion.These are experienced mostly in the northern part of the state. The marked fall in the level of under ground water has also compounded the problem of sustaining the ecological balance in some parts of the state.

Kastina Steel Rolling Mill, Kastina

Soil erosion is also experienced particu larly at the northern fringes which are under the threat of wind erosion as a result of desert encroachment. Gully erosion is also present in Kayauki (Batagarawa LGA), Kusa and Gurbin Baure (Jibia LGA) and Dan Rimi (Malurnfashi LGA).

Drought is a product of drier climatic change which manifested itself conspicuously in the early 1970s as a result of the decline of mean annual rainfall in the northernmost states of Nigeria since 1965. Desertification on the other hand, though partly accounted for by drier climatic conditions, is largely as a result of Man's devastation of the vegetation for various reasons leading to soil degradation and desert encroachment.

The increasing menace of pest invasion is probably due to this climatic change, and desertification, which have brought about conditions favourable to the breeding of pests. Thorough ground geophysics is required to determine the cause of underground water inacces sibility in parts of the state and explore easily procurable underground water spots.