Article Sidebar
Article Details
NAJ supports free online communication and exchange of knowledge as the most effective way of ensuring that the fruits of research and development practice are made widely available. It is therefore committed to open access, which, for authors, enables the widest possible dissemination of their findings and, for readers, increases their ability to discover pertinent information. The Journal adopts and uses the CC: BY license and is open access. This license lets others distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon your work, even commercially, as long as they credit you for the original creation. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the Journal’s published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work. Copyright for articles published in this Journal is retained by the Journal.
Main Article Content
INCOME DISTRIBUTION AMONG FOREST-DEPENDENT RURAL HOUSEHOLDS IN DELTA STATE, NIGERIA
Abstract
The study analysed income distribution among forest-dependent rural households in Delta State, Nigeria. A multi
stage random sampling techniques were used to select 198 forest-dependent rural households using cross
sectional data. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and Gini Coefficient. The results were presented in
3 categories using the entire income of the forest-dependent rural households, income of forest resource owners
and lastly non-owners of forest resources. Results gave a Gini index of 0.54 for the entire sample indicating that
size distribution of forest-dependent rural household income was quite inequitable in pattern. However, the
income of forest resource owners gave a Gini index of 0.34 indicating that there was low inequality in income
distribution among them. The non-owners of forest resources had a Gini index of 0.55 which showed high income
inequality. About 20% of the population of non-owners of forest resources earn less than 3% of the income while
60% of the population earn less than 20% of the income. The study therefore calls for policy shift that will allow
non-owners of forest resources in the rural areas access to both government and private owned forest reserves for
the collection of products. Education and enlightenment of rural households is necessary to help sustain
availability of forest products, harvesting, processing and marketing for better value and income. Rural
households should participate in the formulation of forest policies and programmes.
