Abstract
Increased vulnerability of Non timber forest products to climate variability shocks has overtime, resulted to serious negative consequences on rural dwellers that depend on rain, sunshine and wind for their fruiting, maturity and harvesting, to enhance livelihood outcomes. The scope of this study attempted to analyze the effect of climate variability and NTFPs through peoples’ perception using a field survey. The study adopted a simple random technique, a total of 216 respondents were sampled which was used to select 9 villages out of the 26 villages in Ohafia Local Government Area through a structured questionnaire. Data obtained were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings show that large proportion (72.2%) of the respondents censured increased temperature and heavy rainfall (64.4%) as the most reason for decreased yield in NTFPs in the last four years. Majority (88.9% and 58.3%) of the respondents opined that climate variability had reduced fruit yield and caused price instability respectively. Over 35% said climate variability had brought about species scarcity. (25.5%) of the respondents have made very low sales from NTFPs, while 3.2% have faced starvation. Climate variability influence on the availability of Non timber forest products will affect the income status and food security of rural dwellers that depend on it. Vulnerabilities could be reduced through campaign on embracing climate variability plans, funding the campaign through the collaboration of government and foreign countries, re-training extension workers, cash donations and training the rural dwellers.
Key Words: Climate variability, Food security, Ohafia and Rural dwellers
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