Haya: The Saudi Journal of Life Sciences (SJLS)
Volume-3 | Issue-10 | 609-618
Original Research Article
The Impact of Non- Timber Forest Products on the Livelihood of Rural Dwellers in the South-Western Zone of Ekiti State, Nigeria
Modupe Janet Ayeni, Joshua Kayode, Taiwo Oluwaromilola Akingbade
Published : Oct. 30, 2018
Abstract
The study examined the impact of Non Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) in
the livelihood of the rural dwellers in the southern zone of Ekiti State, Nigeria. Three
villages from within the vicinities of each of the three major towns in Ekiti South West
Local Government area were randomly selected for this study. Fifty households in
each village were randomly selected making a total of 450 households sampled in the
study. Primary data were collected through semi structured questionnaire matrix
administered to the head of each selected household. The results obtained revealed that
the respondents were diverse and cut across the socio-economic classifications. These
classifications were not pre-requisites to their consciousness on NTFPs. Eight
important NTFPs were identified in the study area and valued for foods, soup or soup
ingredients or spices or condiments, medicine, fuel wood, weaving, wrapping and
sweeteners. A tripartite mode of NTFPs utilization was established in this study.
While 14% of the respondents claimed exclusive consumption of the products, 7%
claimed exclusive use of the products as sources of income while a vast majority of
the respondents used the products for both subsistence and economics as sources of
income. Three levels of respondents’ involvements were observed for NTFPs in the
study area. These included collections, processing and marketing, each of which was
dominated by females. Though the amount of income generated by considerable
proportion of the respondents in this study is low compared to the national minimum
wage yet serve as safety net for the poor and offer opportunity for employment.
Diverse sources, including household area, household farms free area, and forest,
abound for NTFPs species in the study area. Most of the species domiciled in the
household farms were cultivated while those of free areas and forest were mostly
wildlings. Constraints abound on transportation, storage and spoilage that greatly
affect the contributions of the NTFPs in the study area, sustainable strategies that
could ameliorate these problems and further boost the contributions of NTFPs were
proposed.