Contributions of Fuelwood to Household Income and its Effect on Sustainable Forest Management in Northern Taraba

Fuel-wood contributes to the household income
of the inhabitants of Northern Taraba. However, the
extent or the exact amount of income is not known,
studied or documented in the study area and hence the
need for this study. A multi-stage sampling technique
was adopted for this study and at 30% sampling intensity,
a total of 270 respondents were randomly selected for this
study. Two hundred and seventy semi-structured
questionnaires were developed, validated and
administered to the respondents using the method of
Adesoye, (2004) and Diaw et al. (2002) to generate data
for this study with only 265 retrieved. Data generated was
analysed using simple percentages, t-test and Logistic
regression analysis at α0.05.The result on
the contributions of fuel-wood to the income of the
inhabitants of Northern Taraba indicated that, an
average monthly income of N15,000 was derived from the
sales of fuel-wood while an average monthly income of
N10,000=00 was derived from other sources by the
respondents in the study area. T-test analysis showed
significant differences between the two sources of income
at P<0.05 respectively (Table 2).The result of
logistic regression analysis on reasons for the preference
of fuel-wood to other energy sources showed;
affordability, availability, reliability, Household size and
Educational status with the highest odds – ratios of
2955.74; 60.08; 7.21; 6.84 and 3.71 while variables such as
efficiency, had odds – ratio 0.02; safety, (0.00); marital
status, (0.01); sex, (0.00) and age (0.00) respectively
(Table 4). The findings from this study indicated that,
fuel-wood is the most widely used sources of domestic

energy. Also, an average sum of N15,000.00 per month
was gotten from the sales of fuel-wood in the study area.
Similarly cutting, felling, digging/uprooting, hand pulling,
gathering/picking are used in harvesting fuel-wood in the
study area. While destruction of animal habitats, erosion,
loss of biodiversity, trekking long distances to harvest
fuel-wood, escape of large animals into neighbouring
Cameroun, late onset and cassation of rainfall were the
effects of fuel-wood harvesting on sustainable forest
management in the study area. Similarly, affordability,
availability, reliability, household size and educational
status were found to be the reasons for the preference of
fuel-wood energy to other sources of energy for
livelihoods in the study area. Based on the major findings
above, the following are recommended; Avoid felling and
digging /uprooting; the use of power chain saws to cut or
fell tree should also be regulated; Seedlings of trees used
as fuel-wood should be raised by government and non
governmental organisations for onward delivery to
farmers for planting on the farms to reduce pressure on
wild trees etc to mention but a few.