Contribution of <i>Acacia nilotica</i> products to the rural livelihood of people in Wamako Community of Sokoto State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study examined the contribution of Acacia nilotica products to the rural livelihood of people in Wamako community of Sokoto State. Structured and open ended questionnaires were distributed to respondent. Twelve (12) villages were purposively selected from eight (8) Districts. Simple random sampling was used to select ten (10) respondents from each village giving a total sample size of 120 respondents. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The results of the study indicated that, average age of the respondents was between 36 to 55 years with 73%, 93% male and 91% married. 58% had 6 to 10 members in their homes and majority of them are farmers (85%) while 74% obtained Qur’anic education. In contribution to livelihood, Acacia nilotica serves as source of income (33%) and medicinal (64%) purposes. About 73% of respondents source Acacia products from the farm land, while 65% obtained income of N4001 – 6000 monthly. 70% of the respondents sold their products at the local market, while 72% indicated that Acacia nilotica helped them in the control of erosion. However, apart from medicinal values, 67% used Acacia nilotica as fuel wood. The major problems faced by the respondents in the study area include deforestation, infestation and lack of storage facilities. The paper recommended regeneration of Acacia nilotica through afforestation, reforestation and social forestry for an improved livelihood of people in the study area.

Keywords: Indigenous tree, species, Acacia nilotica, rural livelihood and development