Socio-Economic and Market Potentials of Chrysophyllum albidum in Rainforest and Derived Savanna Vegetation Zones of Osun State, Nigeria

Résumé

This research work was carried out to rainforest and derived savanna of Osub State, Nigeria; to investigate the socio-economic and market potentials of Chrysophyllum albidum for the sustainability of the people, especially the rural dwellers. Nine and fifteen communities were purposely selected from rainforest and derived savanna zones for socio-economic and market potentials assessments, respectively. Two sets of semi-structured questionnaires (Household and Key informant questionnaire) were used to obtain information from the respondents. Majority of the respondents in both vegetation zones were mostly male and they are between the age of 41 to 50 years of age. A high percentage of C. albidum trees in both rainforest (66.7%) and derived savanna (93.3%) are found on the farmland.  The result revealed that, 11.1% and 17.3% of the respondents in both rainforest and savanna zones respectively that owned C. albidum either on their farmlands or home gardens had no formal education. C. albidum fruits were used for various purposes including food, nutritional supplement, income generation, medicinal, etc. Majority of the farmers sells C. albidum fruits by selling the whole tree on farmland for the marketers to harvest the fruits. Annual income generated from the sale of C. albidum fruits was between ₦8,000- ₦ 150, 000 in both rainforest and derived savanna vegetation zones, respectively. This research paper highlights the socio-economic and market potentials of Chrysophyllum albidum in the two vegetation zones of Osun State.