ABSTRACT

The study examined the Implication of Forest Resources Exploitation on Rural Agro Economy in Isiala Ngwa North Local Government Area of Abia State, Nigeria. The specific objectives were to ascertain the effects/implications of forest resource exploitation on rural agro economy, determine y2ictors influencing income from forest products, identify' major factors that affect exploitation of these resources and ascertain tile socio-economic characteristic of the rural households and ascertain the proportion of household income contributed by forest resources. Data were oh tamed through the administration of 92 copies of structured questionnaire to 10 communities in the study area. Data obtained were analysed using descriptive statistics and regression analysis. Tile multiple regression analyses showed that the exploitation of forest resources was significantly influenced by socio economic factors (age. household size. year of education, farming experience and number of forest resources exploited). The exponential functional form Has chosen as the lead equation based on magnitude of the coefficient of multiple determination, the number of significant variables, the conformity of the sign done by the variables to the a priori expectation amid the F-ratio. The coefficient of multiple determination (R2was 0.6525 implying that 65.25% of variation in income from forest products is harvested was explained by the variables in the model. The study suggests that there should be economic empowerment of the rural people, domestication of economically valuable products, and integration of these products into existing forests plantations, discourage illegal exploitation, burning availing of trees, detailed inventory and encouragement of reforestation.