Impact of Deforestation on the Socio-Economic Livelihood of Farmers in Rural Communities of Benue State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study examined the impact of deforestation on the socio-economic livelihood of farmers in rural communities of Benue State. Four specific objectives and corresponding research questions guided the study. The study used survey research design. The population for this study was nine hundred and seventeen (917) respondents comprising of forest users and teachers of forestry and forest related courses. The sample size of 319 respondents was drawn from the population using simple random sampling. The instrument for data collection was a 21-item structured questionnaire titled "Deforestation Impact Questionnaire (DIQ)" with a four point response options of Strongly agreed (SA), Agreed (A), Disagreed (D) and Strongly disagreed (SD) with a corresponding nominal values of 4, 3, 2 and 1 respectively. The instrument was validated by three (3) experts and had a reliability coefficient of 0.78. The researchers and three research assistants administered the instrument. Mean was used to answer research questions and standard deviation was used to determine the spread and closeness of responses for each item. Findings of the study indicated that deforestation grant rural people access to affordable cooking energy. It however, increases the rate and volume of run-off thereby increasing the rate of flooding. On the basis of the findings, it was recommended that regulations and legislative measures should be adopted and enforced to mitigate the impact of deforestation on livelihood of rural farmers in Benue State.