Adoption of Sustainable Forest Practices by Farmers in Niger State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study examined adoption of sustainable forest practices by farmers in Niger State, Nigeria. To achieve the study objectives, 233 respondents were randomly selected for the study and data were collected using validated interview schedule with reliability coefficient of 0.87. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics and regression model. Result indicated that majority (72.5%) of the respondents were male, while 27.5% had secondary education. Village heads (88.0%), radio (85.0%) and cooperative societies (72.0%) were the major sources of information for sustainable forest practices. Result further revealed that adoption of forest practices such as controlling of excessive felling of forest trees (89.5%), felling of only mature trees (89.2%), controlling/restriction of bush burning (81.4%), restricting of excessive harvesting of non-timber forest resources (77.7%) and practicing of taungya/mixed farming system (73.7%) were sustainable. Factors that influenced adoption were household size, farming experience, income, cooperative societies and extension contacts. Perceived benefits of adoption include sustenance of forest resources and improvement in living standard. Therefore, it was recommended that more awareness should be created through village heads, radio and cooperative societies on the unsustainable forest practices in order to improve their level of adoption. Also, sufficient tree seedlings should be provided to enable farmers replace felled trees and practice afforestation.