Abstract:
In the recent decades, there has been growing interest in the contribution of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) to livelihoods and poverty alleviation among the rural populace. This has been prompted by the fact that communities living adjacent to forests rely to a great extent on the NTFPs for their livelihoods. The broad objective of this study was to ascertain the economic contribution of non-timber forest products to the livelihood of the rural dwellers. The specific objectives were to describe the socio-economic characteristics of respondents in the study area; identify and describe livelihood opportunities provided by the NTFPs; identify the common NTFPs, the parts used, their uses, methods of use and end produce in the area; ascertain the socioeconomic factors that influence the harvest of NTFPs by respondents; to identify the share of income from NTFPs to the respondent's total income. Data were collected through the use of structured questionnaire, from 100 randomly selected respondents supplemented with verbal interview in the study local government areas, however, 81 Questionnaire were analysed after screening. All data collected from the survey areas were subjected to simple descriptive statistics and logistic regression for analysis.A total of 22 useful species of plant and 5 species of animal origins were recorded as having various applications in the lives of the rural dwellers in the area. The result showed that NTFPs in the study areas have varying use categories such as Fuel (69.1%), Medicine (22.2%), Food/fruits (75.3%), Oil & Spice/condiments (8.0%), Construction and crafting (64.2%), Fodder (55.6%), Environmental protection/amelioration (75.6%) and Proteins/bush meats (65.4%). The study also revealed that, different people in the area collect these resources frequently, process them and sell them as a means of earning income. . More so, socioeconomic factors like, Total education year (0.027), occupation (0.021) and Household size (0.041) were significant at 5% level of significance, hence influence the collection of NTFPs. The average annual income generated from the use and sale of NTFPs by respondents was shown to be ₦465,500 (44.9% of average total income). There is need for forest policy to include the production of NTFPs and local agro-forestry schemes should be developed within community forests to allow for the production of bush meats, breastfruit, bamboo, traditional medicines, honey and other forest food since they contribute immensely to the livelihood of the rural people.
