Entrepreneurial Activities in Rural Forest Communities in Nigeria: Case Study of Onigambari Forest Area, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria

P O Oyetunji

doi:10.7176/rhss/9-11-08

Abstract

Entrepreneurship has been identified as a vehicle for rural development and overall economic growth in Nigeria. This paper examines the nature of entrepreneurial ventures in rural forest communities as well as the roles of forest resources in these ventures and the challenges they face. The study was based on a survey of 120 respondents from three communities in the Onigambari Forest Area in Oyo State using multistage sampling technique. Descriptive statistics as well as the Chi – square was used to analyse the results. The results showed that the farming (agribusiness) form the major entrepreneurial venture in these communities and these ventures are faced with a vicious cycle of low income and productivity. The results also show that these entrepreneurial ventures are faced with several challenges affecting their productivity. This study recommends that the government should encourage financial institutions to increase their presence in rural areas, that members in forest communities should be adequately trained on how to make proper use of forest resources and the overall standard of living in rural areas should be improved so that entrepreneurship can have the desired effect and forest resources can be a productive asset for development in these communities. Keywords : Entrepreneurship, forest resources, rural areas DOI : 10.7176/RHSS/9-11-08 Publication date :June 30 th 2019

Highlights

Entrepreneurship has become a common concept in the world today with a lot of implications for both developed and developing nations
2.5 Results Socio – Economic Characteristics of Respondents From Table 1 below, a greater percentage of the business ventures in forest communities are owned by younger www.iiste.org people as 20 – 30 year olds form 25.8% and 30 – 40 years form 33.3% of the total respondents
The utilization of local resources is necessary for rural development to occur and this is possible through rural entrepreneurship

Summary

Introduction

Entrepreneurship has become a common concept in the world today with a lot of implications for both developed and developing nations. According to Osunde (2016), MSMEs as reported by the Small and Medium Enterprises Development of Nigeria (SMEDAN) represent 96% of the businesses in Nigeria and contributes 75% of the national employment. This huge number indicates that small businesses are the backbone of the Nigerian economy. A nation’s ability to generate a steady stream of business opportunities can only come about when its people take on entrepreneurial activities (Ihugba, Odii and Njoku, 2013). Entrepreneurial thinking and competent action increase the economic and social standards of the rural and urban population and the ability to mobilize the full economic potential of a country is related to its culture of entrepreneurship (Schmithusen, Kaiser, Schmidhauser, Mellinghof, Perchthaler and Kammerhofer, 2014)

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion