Evaluation of Ekiti State Forestry Commission contributions to the development of forestry sub-sector in Ekiti-State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study assessed the roles of Ekiti State Forestry Commission on the establishment of forest plantation since creation. Comparative analysis of the occurrence of forest offences for two years before and after the creation of Ekiti State Forestry Commission was done and the roles of stakeholders and the problems faced by the Commission were examined. The study was limited to the three Senatorial district in Ekiti-State (North, South and Central Senatorial district). Two Local Government were purposively selected in which six towns were randomly selected and interviewed through semi-structure questionnaire. Also, focus group discussion was used to obtain additional information while secondary data was obtained from the Forestry Commission. The results showed the growing participation of private tree growers in forest plantation development in Ekiti State. The total areas of forest plantation established since inception of the commission in the free areas is approximately one thousand, one hundred and ninety-seven hectares (1,196.5ha) while in the government forest reserve is one hundred and fifty-five hectares (155ha). The dominant tree species established were Gmelina arborea and Tectona grandis, and other species planted were Terminalia superba, Terminalia invorenses, Mansonia ultissima. The established plantation in the urban area of the three senatorial districts were less than that of rural area due to abundance of land in the rural area though Chi-square test (p>0.05) showed no significant difference in the number of hectares established. The study revealed that Ekiti-State forestry commission is faced with the challenges of shortage of staff, insecurity, poor funding, political instability and inadequate patrol. It was revealed that the stakeholders are faced with the problem of finance, power supply, and marshy terrain, extinction of parent trees, long gestation period and unavailability of land across all the senatorial districts.The study recommended that government should increase the allocation given to the commission and also that the timber development levy (N200) paid on each timber felled for regeneration should be released to the commission for massive afforestation/regeneration.