Socio-Economic Determinants of Households’ Dependence on Forest Resources. A Case of Forested Communities in Quan’Pan Local Government Area of Plateau State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study evaluated the socioeconomic factors determining rural households' reliance on forest resources, a case of forested communities in Quan’Pan Council Area of Plateau State, Nigeria. Using a multistage sampling process, 150 household heads were chosen for the study. Descriptive statistics, five point Likert scale and binary logit regression analysis were used to achieve the objectives of the study. The study's outcome showed that the heads of the households were averagely 40years.  About 71% of the selected persons were men with a greater (89%) number married.  Majority (58%) of them had only primary education. Findings from the study also revealed that 82% of the heads of the households were into farming as their major occupation. They practice farming on average farm sizes of 1.6hectares. All (100%) interviewed household heads collected and utilized a variety of forest products throughout the year for their daily subsistence and income generation. The respondents showed high level of dependability on resources from the forest to support themselves such as firewood (4.7), timber (4.0), charcoal (4.0), fruits and nuts (3.8), bush meat (3.7), honey (3.7) and medicinal herbs (3.0). Forest products contributed the second largest proportion of income in the home by 27.0% after income from agriculture (51.0%). Gender (0.944), education status (-0.385), household size (0.432), farm size (-0.581) and farm income (-0.024) were significant determinant of households reliance on the resources of the forest. Gender (0.944) and household size (0.432) had positive and significant relationships with households dependence on forest resources while education status (-0.385), farm size (-0.581) and farm income (-0.024) showed a significant inverse relationship with the reliance of households on forest resources.