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Farmers' perception on the effects of gum Arabic agroforestry on livelihoods in the Sahelian zone of Borno State, Nigeria

The study analysed farmers’ perception of effects of gum Arabic agroforestry on livelihoods in the Sahelian zone of Borno state, Nigeria. Data for the study were obtained mainly through primary sources. Multi stage, purposive and random sampling techniques were employed to select 321 respondents that was used for this study. The study revealed that the most important (30.25%) farm information by respondents was radio. This was closely followed by friends and relatives representing 29.91% of the respondents in the study area. However extension agents were the least important (9.34%) source of farm information among respondents in the study area. The study indicated that the most important (29%) reason for planting gum Arabic tree was for economic reason. The result showed that the respondents’ perception on improved environmental situation and improved socio-economic status had a mean score of 2.68 and 2.63 respectively implying that the respondents had an agreed perception on the effects of gum Arabic agroforestry on livelihoods. The results in also indicated that all the constraints identified by respondents had a mean score of > 2.56, implying that they had agreed to have encountered problems in the adoption of gum Arabic agroforestry in the study area. The study recommends that awareness creation should be mounted through extension education approach to enlighten the public on the skills, knowledge, techniques and benefits of the adoption of gum Arabic agroforestry in the study area. Farmers in the study area should also be encouraged to form gum Arabic agroforestry cooperatives as this will enable them to take advantage of government and nongovernmental programmes, such as provision of credit facilities and technologies etc.