Assessment of wood conversion efficiency in selected small-scale furniture workshops within Kano Metropolis, Kano State Nigeria

Abstract

Wood is very valuable and versatile material that we cannot afford to lose a substantial amount of it. This study was conducted to assess the efficiency of wood utilization in some furniture workshops within Kano metropolis, Nigeria. The workshops were purposively selected based on the concentration of furniture activities. Data were collected using semi structured questionnaire from 140 respondents among the furniture makers. Actual measurements of input wood were taken before production to calculate the input volume. The output volume was also taken. The two volumes were used to compute the efficiency of utilized wood using Nilson (Estonia model). The result indicated that Gwale Furniture Workshops had the highest wood utilization efficiency with 69.80%. This was followed by Kano municipal workshops with 57.38% and Dala had the least wood utilization efficiency with 56.87%. Regular refresher courses, workshops, seminar and sensitization are recommended to furniture makers to enhance their technical capacity in different furniture making and wood utilization efficiency. More research should be carried out in the areas of machine efficiency and labor efficiency which could further boost the capability of this sector to contribute to national development.