Effect of Charcoal Production on Rural Dwellers Livelihood in Ibadan/Ibarapa Agricultural Zone of Oyo State, Nigeria

The absence of a detailed exploration into the diverse determinants affecting charcoal production hampers efforts to devise targeted strategies for sustainable development. This study therefore determined the effects of charcoal production on rural dwellers livelihood in Ibadan/Ibarapa agricultural zone of Oyo state, Nigeria. A multistage sampling technique was employed to select 175 respondents for the study area, and data were collected through structured questionnaires. Descriptive statistics and Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) were used for analysis. The results showed that the mean age of the respondents was 44 years, 59.4% of the respondents were males while 40.6% of them were females, The result obtained revealed that 49.7% of the respondents indicated that they were traders, 42.3% claimed to be marketer of agricultural produce, 30.9% of the respondents engaged in farming activities. The findings revealed that, more income generation factor attached with charcoal production was the main motivation which influences the rural populace in venturing into the enterprise. The PPMC results revealed that selected socio-economic variables such as; Age (r = -0.511**, p ≤ 0.001) has a negative and significant relationship with the effects of charcoal production on rural dwellers’ livelihoods. PPMC result also revealed that no appropriate tools to use as a constraint which affects charcoal production (r = 0.375**, p ≤ 0.000) has a positive and significant relationship with the effects of charcoal production on rural dwellers’ livelihood. The study concluded that charcoal is a cheap energy source for rural households. It was observed that the respondents are still productive in terms of their age and can actively participate in charcoal production. The study therefore recommended that, a programme should be established to empower and targeted at making financial provision in terms of grants and modern charcoal production tools available to charcoal producers which by taking advantage of it would improve their overall livelihoods.