Willingness to establish private forest plantation among dwellers in some selected Local Government Area of Osun State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study was carried out to investigate the willingness to establish private forest plantations among dwellers in Ife North, Ede South and Osogbo Local Government Areas of Osun State. One hundred and seventeen (117) questionnaires were administered randomly to selected respondents from nine (9) selected communities in the study areas, while ninety-three (93) copies of questionnaire were retrieved. Multi-stage sampling technique was used to select respondents from the study area. The willingness of the respondents to private forest plantation establishment showed that 64.5% of the respondents agreed on establishment of private forest plantation. Chi-square analysis indicated that a significant relationship exist between respondents’ sex, level of education, source of labour and secondary occupation on willingness to establish private forest plantation. Many of the dwellers faced some problems which influenced their willingness in establishing private forest plantations such as poor extension service, land tenure system, small land holding, non-availability of seed/seedlings, lack of technical know-how, Government policies, trees casting shadow on crops, etc. More dwellers can be encouraged in willingness to participate in private forest plantation through extension service to farmers, government institutions’ involvement at various levels of activities that will encourage individuals and organizations to establish private forest plantations. Government policies on land tenure system should be reviewed to encourage individual or private organisations to invest and actively participate more in forest plantation establishment.

Keywords: Willingness, Private Forests, Plantation Establishment