The Economic Importance of Forest Products in Enugu State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study examined the economic importance of exploiting forest products in Enugu State, Nigeria using 120 respondents. The study showed that most of the household heads were males aged between 31 and 50 years, and engaged in different forestry activities such as gathering, processing and marketing. Lack of access to modern technology and the forms in which products were marketed among other factors were major reasons weakening employment provision/generation from the forest products by rural households. The regression results, showed that access to modern forest products harvesting/processing technology (T_e) and relative contribution of forest output in total household economy (R_o) were statistically significant at 5% level in explaining the observed variability in the dependent variable (E) based on semi-logarithmic model. It was recommended that government should encourage the stakeholders involved in forest product activities by importing the required machinery, without restriction. This will lead to production of value added products and attraction of more employment to both rural households and communities.

Keywords: Forest products, wood products, non-timber products, employment, rural households