THE IMPACT OF THE 21ST CENTURY FOREST PRODUCT INDUSTRY ON THE ECONOMY OF SHIRORO AND BOSSO LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF NIGER STATE.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess the Impact of the 21st century Forest Product industry on the economy of Shiroroand Bosso Local Government Area of Niger state. Four research questions and three null hypotheses tested at 0.05 level of significance guided the study. A survey research design was adopted for the study. The population for the study comprised of20 participants in sawmill industry (10 from each local government area); 30 participants in large- and small-scale carpentry (15 from each local government area), 30 households (15 from each local government area) and 10 staffs of ministry of agriculture and rural development (5 from each local government area), making a total of 90 participate. A structured questionnaire consisting of 34 items was used for data collection. Data collected were analyzed using mean and standard deviation for the research questions while t-test was used for testing the null hypotheses. It was found from the study that timber, charcoal, fuelwood, medicinal plants/herbs, wildlife, mushroom, paper, edible nuts, fruits are the major forest product harvested in Shiroro and Bosso local government area of Niger state. The findings of the study revealed that it has increased the creation of many jobs, revenue generation, sustainable development, innovation into local governments, exportation of forest products, carbon sequestration, climate change mitigation, natural trade and also It has led to more ecotourism activities and biodiversity conservation. The findings of the study revealed that It has increased direct employment, indirect employment, seasonal employment (as in transportation, marketing and packaging), small business development, jobs in sustainable forest Management.It was recommended that Establishment of forest information data base since there are no reliable, consistent and comprehensive statistics about forest