NTFPs Collection as an Alternative Source of Income for Poverty Alleviation among Rural Farmers in Egbeda Local Government Oyo State

Abstract

The study investigated Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) collection as an alternative source of income for poverty alleviation among rural farmers in Egbeda local government of Oyo state.The local government has six(6) rural wards while five(5)wards were selected at random by balloting system and semi-structural questionnaire was administered to 80 respondents. The data collection were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics while Gross margin model was used to calculate the cost and rate of returns of NTFPs.The results showed that males and age range 40-49years were predominate in the study.Furthermore, majority of the respondents had no formal education andalso married. The gross margin analysis per respondent per month shows that the rate of return for vegetable,fire wood,medicinal plant,charcoal,bush meat,honey,chewing stick,forest fruit were profitable business since the rate of return was greatera than 1.Moreover, poor marketing,low demand,price fluctuation, irregular supply of product and transportation are the most challenging factors facing the marketing of NTFPs in the selected area.Government can help in ameliorating these problems by helping to develop the rural area especially by providing good roads that will link our rural area and the forest so as to enhance easy transportation .In addition, people should pay more attention to these enterprise as one of the avenue to address the high rate ofunemploymentin the Egbeda local government and especially Nigeria in general. DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2014.v3n6p467