Effect of Deforestation on Rural Household Income in Selected Forest Dependent Commuinities in Odeda Local Council Area of Ogun State, Nigeria

This study was carried out to examine deforestation and rural household income with a view to ensuring conservation. A multistage sampling procedure with a 3-stage design was used for this study. Questionnaire was used to elicit information from 120 respondents in Odeda local council area of Ogun State, Nigeria. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The Foster-Greer-Thorbecke indices of poverty metrics was used to determine the poverty line of households. Smith’s saliency was used to determine the livelihood activities in selected communities. The result showed that respondents were gender sensitive, majority (58.3%) were male and (41.7%) female. On age, 41 – 50 (45.8%) years recorded the highest. The mean age was 50 years. Most of the respondents were married (68.6%) while majority, (52.5%) have low literacy level attaining only secondary education. Household size 1 - 5 recorded the highest, (76.7%) of the total population. Mean household size was 5. The study area was dominated by Yoruba (77.5%). Major occupation income recorded a mean of N17, 000 Naira while minor occupation income recorded a mean of N4308.37 Naira. Poverty line of N122, 700 Naira was determined with poverty incidence (P0) of (21.67%). The poverty gap (P1), (5.09%) indicating that an average respondent requires N6, 245.43 Naira to reach the poverty line. The poverty severity (P2) was (0.02) showing that the respondents were not poor because the value is far from 1. Socio economic factors promoting deforestation were identified among the respondents with marital status as the only significant variable (P<0.05) and a negatively coefficient value of -2.281. Conclusively, deforestation was identified with livelihood activities of the people such as hunting, farming and trading of forest products. Therefore, it is recommended that forestry extension programmes should be intensified in rural communities to minimize deforestation activities and promote eco-consciousness among the local people.