Socio-Economic Benefit of Fuel-Wood Marketing on the Host Communities of Onigambari Forest Reserve, Nigeria

Abstract

Fuel wood extraction and marketing is one of the off farm activities for rural dwellers around the forest reserve of Oyo State, Nigeria. The assessment of fuel wood extraction on the rural dwellers’ livelihoods was carried out using multi-stage sampling techniques. Purposive sampling was used to select Onigambari Forest Reserve where fuel wood extraction is one of the major off-farm businesses by the rural dwellers. Random sampling was also used to select 50% of the registered fuel wood marketers by Oyo State department of forestry. Structured questionnaires and in-depth interviews waere used to generate data. Data collected were analysed through tables of percentage. Results showed that fuel wood marketing is a profitable business with an average of 54,000 gains per month by the respondents. Fuel wood business has helped the respondents to possess properties such as houses, land for building, farmland and vehicles. Farming activities in the study area have also improved drastically as many of the respondents had farming as their primary occupation and their gains from fuel wood business were re-invested into farmland and haulage vehicles.