Determinants of Cooking Energy Consumption among Farming Households in Owerri Agricultural Zone, Imo State, Nigeria (Published)
The 7th goal of UN Sustainable Development Goals targets ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all. The study investigated the determinants of cooking energy consumption among farming households in Owerri Agricultural Zone, Imo State. A multistage random sampling technique was used to select seventy-two respondents for the study. Questionnaire was the main instrument for data collection. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics and ordered probit analysis. The result showed that the average age of the farmers, household size, and years of farming experience were 49.4years, 8 persons, and 20 years respectively. Majorities (73.62% and 97.23%) of the respondents were females and married. The revealed preferences of the households for cooking energy material in the study area were fuel wood (70.83%), kerosene (23.61%) and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (5.56%). Empirical results from the marginal effects after the ordered probit analysis indicates that sex and household’s income are the major determinants of cooking energy choice. It is recommended that measures aimed at increasing household’s income levels should be put in place by the government and the development of affordable, modern and cleaner cooking energy materials to reduce the negative effect of fuel wood use on the environment should be promoted.
Keywords: Consumption, Cooking Energy, Farming Households, Fuel Wood, Preference
Fuel Wood Commercialization and Households Welfare in the Northern Region of Ghana: An Implications for Rural Livelihood Improvement (Published)
Several national forestry policies in Ghana meet resistance and or failure; particularly issues of natural and environment resources use within communities. This is because of the highly dependent nature of people on the environment for sustenance and welfare improvements. This paper examined the major facts which motivate households’ decisions to engage in commercialization of fuelwood; determined the most preferred fuel wood species, and availability of income inequality among sampled districts and establish fuelwood, commercialization and households’ welfare by the travel cost method. The study sampled six districts in the Northern Region based on poverty and rural dependence mode. The paper used the simple random sample along with a structured questionnaire to illicit information from respondents. The results showed that, increased in travel cost and cost of access to forested sites impact negatively on the number of visits for fuel wood. The study further revealed that, benefits from fuel wood commercialization in terms of reducing income inequality differ from district to district. The study recommended that, government and international organizations should facilitate the cultivation forest sites solely for fuel wood harvest to ensure environmental sustainability. In addition, fuel wood harvesters must be taught forest management and conservation strategies in the Northern Region.
Keywords: Commercialization, Fuel Wood, Inequality, Livelihood, Welfare, households
GHANA AND THE LIGUIDIFIED PETROLEUM GAS DILEMMA CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF GHANA’S LPG POLICY (Published)
Ghana adopted LPG policy intervention as a recipe of dealing with the domestic cooking energy crises. Since the 1990s, Ghana has made several efforts to promote the usage of LPG as a domestic source of energy with the intention of curbing the problems posed by fuel wood and charcoal production to the vegetation in the country. Drawing from only secondary sources of data for the paper, it has been realized that, there has been an increased rather in the demand for fuel wood and charcoal. The aim of this paper is to examine the policy and the way forward especially now that Ghana may be extracting her own natural gas
Keywords: Charcoal, Energy, Fuel Wood, Liquefied Petroleum Gas