Rural Women Perception on Bushmeat Trade around Kainji Lake National Park, Niger State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study examines the perception of rural women on bushmeat trade around Kainji Lake National Park in Niger state, Nigeria. Multi-stage random sampling technique was used to select 120 rural women living around kainji lake national park in Niger state. Data were collected through a well-structured interview schedule and analyzed using frequency counts, percentages, 5 points Likert-type scale and chi- square. The result of the study revealed that majority (69.2%) of the rural women were married with large household sizes, 70.3% were in their middle age and 67.1% had just basic education. Also, majority (95.0%) of them had long years of working experience with low average monthly income less than U S $61. Moreover, they perceived benefits of trading in bush meat to include high return (1st), raising social status (2nd), and cheap access to animal protein (3rd). The study revealed further that respondents’ perceived knowledge were very high (2.5-3.0) on hunting and trading of bushmeat as not being a good livelihood activity, high (1.9-2.4) on unregulated hunting and trading of wild species as a factor that can destroy the environment while other opinions such as eating any wild animal meat be it endangered or not, extinction of wild species not contributing to disequilibrium of biodiversity, etc were rated low (1.3- 1.8). There were significant relationship between education and years of working experience with respondents’ perception on bushmeat trade while age, household size, marital status and average monthly income were not significant. The perception exhibited by the rural women which was believed to be highly beneficial as a result of their generally low knowledge on the implication of the trade on biodiversity could encourage participation in bushmeat trade. Based on the findings, massive enlightenment campaigns need to be embarked upon by both governmental and non-governmental organizations to change their mindset on the implication of bushmeat trade. Key