Contributions of Selected Non Timber Forest Products to Socio Economic Lives in Oban Hills Forest Reserve, Nigeria

The study appraised the socio-economic contributions of selected Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) to the people in Oban Hills Group Forest Reserve, Nigeria. The research was carried out from November, 2014 to January, 2015. Data were collected through the administration of structured questionnaires to randomly selected household heads in ten (10) communities from the east and west corridors of the Oban Hills Forest Reserve. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics such as tables, means, simple percentages and graphical illustrations. Inferential analysis was conducted using student’s t-test and correlation analysis. Results indicate that 68.90 percent of the respondents were male while 31.10 percent were female with 42.10% being farmers. Also 73.60 percent of the respondents were married and mostly in the age brackets of 31-40 years. Result on correlation revealed that there was significant relationship between occupation and household size (p ≤ 0.05), experience and occupation relate significantly with the income of the respondents at 0.01 and 0.05 level of significant respectively, while marital status relates negatively with household size and experience (p ≤ 0.01). The study revealed that Irvingia gabonensis (Bushmango), Gnetum africana (Afang), Archachatina spp (Snail), and Bushmeat were the major NTFPs harvested from the forest in the study area. On ranking the NTFPs, in relation to income generation and employment, results indicate that Bushmango was the major income generation source, with the highest employment openings in the study area. The people of Oban Hills Group Forest Reserve depend on NTFPs directly and indirectly for income generation and employment, There is need for sustainable harvesting of NTFPs in the study area to enhance their preservation and sustainability in the wild and also proper marketing channels of NTFPs to generate adequate income to improve the living standard of the people in the study area.