Assessment of Charcoal Producers' Attitude towards Forest Conservation in Ekiti State, Nigeria.
Abstract
Forest conservation implies sustainable planting and maintenance of wooded lands for the present and future generations' benefit. However, in an attempt to conserve the forest for sustained yield in perpetuity, the timbers are frequently removed for charcoal production in many communities of developing countries. This study therefore examined the attitudes of charcoal producers towards forest conservation in Ekiti State, Nigeria. The state was stratified into derived savannah and rain forest zones and two communities were selected from each zone. Purposive sampling techniques was used to select the charcoal producers. Data were collected with copies of a semi-structured questionnaire administered on one hundred and twenty (120)charcoal producers. Collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Findings from the study revealed that charcoal production involved the use of earth kiln. Production activities were dominated by males (91.66%). Majority (45.83%) of the producers were within the age range of 31-40 years, while (57.50%) were married and (44.17%) had formal educational up to secondary school level. The result also revealed that the five major tree species, namely: Anogeissus leiocarpus (Igi Ayin), Acacia seyal (Igi Kasia), Albizia coriaria (Igi Ayinre), Terminalia glaucescens (Igi Idi-odan) and Gliricidia sepiu (Igi Agunmaniye) used for charcoal production were mainly sourced from the wild (79.17%). Income generation (47.40%) forms the primary reason for respondents' involvement in the production. The study also showed that (91.45%) of the producers were aware of conservation practices,(88.33%) wereaware of consequential effect of charcoal production on the environment. High transportation cost was identified as the major constraint to charcoal production while,30.80% were involved in afforestation practices irrespective of their high level of awareness, and trees planted were mainly for pole production.It was, therefore, concluded thatthere should be forest conservation awareness campaign on tree planting as these identified tree species would suffer massive logging, which could result in extinction if not adequately conserved.
Keywords
Attitude, Charcoal, Conservation, Ekiti, Forest.
Citations
IRE Journals:
Ademola Ayodeji OMOYENI , John Olagunju OLUJOBI , Itunu Dorcas OJO
"Assessment of Charcoal Producers' Attitude towards Forest Conservation in Ekiti State, Nigeria." Iconic Research And Engineering Journals Volume 6 Issue 8 2023 Page 236-242
IEEE:
Ademola Ayodeji OMOYENI , John Olagunju OLUJOBI , Itunu Dorcas OJO
"Assessment of Charcoal Producers' Attitude towards Forest Conservation in Ekiti State, Nigeria." Iconic Research And Engineering Journals, 6(8)
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