Contribution of Odoba Forest Reserve to Livelihoods of the Rural People in Ogbadibo Local Government Area, Benue State, Nigeria

The study was conducted to assess the contribution of Odoba forest reserve to rural livelihoods of the communities in Ogbadibo Local Government Area of Benue State, Nigeria. Pre-tested semi-structured questionnaires were administered to three hundred and seventy-six respondents in 188 households in four communities. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Fifteen different wood and non-wood products were collected by the respondents from the forest reserve with fuel wood products being the product mostly collected from the reserve (65.5%) followed by water supply from the streams in the forest reserve (59%). Others were edible vegetable (56.6%), folder (53.6%), mush room (53.3%), medicinal herbs (52.6%) and timber (50.3%), Bush Meat (46.7%), Chewing stick (43.0%), Pole (40.5%), Honey (37.8%), Snail (27%), Caterpillar (25%), Cricket (20.4%) and Climbers (19%). The result also shows that forest resources contributed very high to the livelihood of the people in the areas of food for household consumption, additional income, medicinal values, water supply and trading of forest products. Furthermore, the study results showed that the most need met by the people from the sale of forest products is feeding of households (19.4%) and investing in farming activities (13.8%). The communities differ significantly (P=0.05) in the contribution of the forest reserve to their livelihoods. The study recommends that State Government, local authorities and aid agencies should provide alternative sources of fuel energy by establishing village owned solar power plants and fuelwood efficient stoves. This will reduce dependence on the forest reserve for energy and also curtail deforestation of the reserve. Modified Taungya system in the reserve to engage households in forest regeneration efforts as well as the sharing of benefits from such efforts should be included in policies of the Government.