Non-timber forest products and their contribution to households income around Falgore Game Reserve in Kano, Nigeria

Introduction:In the recent decades,there has been growing interest in the contribution of non-timber forest products(NTFPs)to livelihoods,development,and poverty alleviation among the rural populace.This has been prompted by the fact that communities living adjacent to forest reserves rely to a great extent on the NTFPs for their livelihoods,and therefore any effort to conserve such resources should as a prerequisite understand how the host communities interact with them.Methods:Multistage sampling technique was used for the study.A representative sample of 400 households was used to explore the utilization of NTFPs and their contribution to households’income in communities proximate to Falgore Game Reserve(FGR)in Kano State,Nigeria.Descriptive statistics and logistic regression analysis were used to analyze and summarize the data collected.Results:The findings reveal that communities proximate to FGR mostly rely on the reserve for firewood,medicinal herbs,fodder,and fruit nuts for household use and sales.Income from NTFPs accounts for 20–60%of the total income of most(68%)of the sampled households.The utilization of NTFPs was significantly influenced by age,sex,household size,main occupation,distance to forest and market.Conclusions:The findings suggest that NTFPs play an important role in supporting livelihoods,and therefore provide an important safety net for households throughout the year particularly during periods of hardship occasioned by drought.It is suggested that stakeholders should prioritize technical and financial support programs on agricultural value addition and handcrafts that would promote off-farm income generating activities,in addition,provision of alternative domestic cooking energy such as biogas in communities proximate to FGR in order to reduce pressure relating to fuelwood gathering from the forest,this will help to improve forest resources quality.

Impacts of long-term land-use changes on herd size and mobility among pastoral households in Amboseli ecosystem,Kenya

Introduction:Long-term changes in rangeland ecosystems of the world have impacted on the livestock production,a key livelihood strategy in these areas.This paper presents perceptions of the pastoral community on the dynamics of pastoral livelihoods under three land-use types namely nomadic,semi-nomadic,and sedentary in Amboseli ecosystem located in southern Kenya.Structured questionnaire was used to collect data concerning household livestock herds,perceived livestock trends and their causes,importance of migration,sedentarization,and land subdivision,and were administered to respondents randomly selected from the three land-use types.Results:The study shows that the livestock herd size was higher in nomadic(117.1)and lower in sedentary(56.6)land-use site.The majority of the respondents in nomadic(79%),semi-nomadic(73%),and sedentary(64%)reported a declining trend in household herd size.The declines were mostly attributed to recurrent droughts and loss of grazing lands.Conclusions:Pastoralism remains an important livelihood strategy to majority of households in the study area;therefore,to achieve sustainable livelihood strategies,grazing lands should be maintained.

Spatial and temporal analysis of forest cover change in Falgore Game Reserve in Kano, Nigeria

Introduction:Multi-temporal land-use and land-cover data provides a historical vehicle for determining and evaluating long-term trends in bio-physical landscapes.Land-use and land-cover assessment and mapping is one of the most useful applications of geographic information system(GIS)for planning,management,and development.This study analyses the spatio-temporal pattern of forest cover dynamics for three decades in Falgore Game Reserve in Kano,Nigeria.The dynamics of forest cover transition during 1985–2015 was analysed using multi-temporal Landsat imagery.Results:The spatio-temporal analysis shows that moderate woodland dominated in 1985(46%)and 2005(57%)but was replaced by open woodland in 2015 which accounts for 58%of the total area of Falgore Game Reserve(FGR)currently.Dense woodland occupied the least area of the total forest estate that varied between 17%in 1985 and 1%in 2015.The results indicate that dense woodland,moderate woodland,and very open woodland were decreased at annual average rate of 3,1,and 0.4%.Open woodland had expanded from 21,127 ha in 1985 to 53,392 ha in 2015.The main drivers of forest resource degradation in the area were found to be excessive fuelwood collection,overgrazing,agricultural expansion,and forest fire.Conclusions:These findings suggest that protection strategies employed in FGR were not effective as deforestation is still evident in the reserve.Government and environmental based NGOs should therefore prioritize effective and efficient conservation strategy for present and future use of forest resources,in addition to the provision of alternative livelihood sources to communities proximate to the reserve.This will ensure the socio-economic well-being of the locals and sustainable conservation of biological diversity in the area.