This study investigates speciation of heavy metals (Cd, Co, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn) in the
cultivated farmland of three selected Local Government Areas of Benue state in Nigeria. Total
of 31 selected sites and 9 controls have been sampled and five subsamples were taken in each
site to create a composite sample. The seven metals have been analyzed for the sequential
extraction procedure by atomic absorption spectrometry. Heavy metal speciation of soil samples
from agricultural farmland indicates that the determined heavy metals are predominantly in the
non-residual fractions thereby reflecting control by anthropogenic sources. The exchangeable
Cd, Co, Pb, was not detected. The absence of mobile forms of Cd and Pb in all soil samples
eliminates the toxic risk both in the tropic chain and from its migration downwards the soil
profile.
