Abstract:
Aims: To evaluate farmer’s perceptions about the environmental and vulnerability impact of
bush burning.
Study Design: Field survey.
Place and Duration of Study: Southern Guinea savanna of Adamawa State, Nigeria,
between 1995 and 2010.
Methodology: The respondents interviewed were selected using a simple random
sampling and purposive sampling techniques proportional to the size of the areas studied.
A sample of 120 respondents formed the sample size. Data were collected from hunters,
farmers, herdsmen, foresters and civil servants in the study area. At the end of data
collection only 100 questionnaires were correctly filled and returned. The remaining 20
were rejected owing to inconsistencies in their responses. Descriptive statistical analyses
such as frequency and percentage were used to analyze the data obtained using statistical
package for social science (SPSS 13).
Results: The results obtained show that 96% of the respondents interviewed were males
and 4% females. Most of them were aged between 31 to 40 years with 45% representing
active part of the population. 30% of the respondents engaged in farming, 21% hunting,
20% pastoralists, 16% foresters and 13% civil servants. Almost all the respondents agreed
that they practice bush burning in order to derive various benefits that include; 24% as a
means of land clearing and 18% on maintenance of soil productivity. 23% were on the view
that it promotes rapid growth of succulent vegetation for livestock. 18% said that it helps
them in their hunting expedition and 14% looked at it as a means of conserving the natural
vegetation. At the same time 27% of the respondents maintained that this practice leads to
lack of pasture for livestock, 22% pointed out that it leads to destruction of wildlife habitat,
others, 18% observed that it brings about reduction in soil fertility, promotes soil erosion and also destroys soil micro-organisms. An overwhelming view was that due to this
practice, the climate was getting drier. 27% of the respondents attributed the dryness to a
reduction in the amount of rainfall, 24% observed that there was decrease in vegetation
cover, 20% maintained that there is increase in hammattan dust and others, 16% and 13%
said there has been drying of water bodies and poor harvest. A pressing issue is how to
support people to use the soils, the biota and other natural resources without destroying
those resources, and without affecting the climate adversely.
