Fuelwood Resource Exploitation and Energy Demand in Selected Local Government Areas of Sokoto State, Nigeria

Fuelwood is the primary source of energy for cooking and warmth in many developing countries. It is the most preferred source of energy in both rural and urban areas. Exploiters/cutters import fuelwood to the urban area where there is high demand for the commodity. Four Local Government Areas (LGAs) in Sokoto State were purposively selected. Four villages from each of the LGAs purposively selected and 10 respondents randomly selected from each village making a total of 160 respondents. Structured questionnaires were administered to elicit information on demographic features of the respondents, income generated, number of bundle exploited, species preferred, sources of fuelwood, impact on the environment, and possible constraints encountered in the business. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. Binary logit regression was used to estimate maximum likelihood of the exploiters participation in the enterprise. The result revealed that exploiters generated income based on the numbers of bundles harvested per week, demand for fuelwood was high, and the Combretum spp were the preferred species, respondents acknowledged environmental impact. The binary regression indicated the factors of age, price, family size and number of bundle harvested were significant. Though the coefficient of family size and price per bundle were negative, the log-likelihood 186.503a was significant at 1% signifying a close relationship within the variables. While omnibus test gave a chi square value 21.333 indicating a better significant fit of the model. It was concluded that demand for fuelwood had increased with increase in population, urbanization. Exploiters generate income but harvest indiscriminately without replacement. Fuelwood business exploitation should be regulated by government agencies and woodlot establishment should be encouraged.