Intl. J. of Mol. Evol. and Biodivers. 2012, Vol. 2, No.2, 8-12
http://ijmeb.sophiapublisher.com
10
size of family, religion and income) that contribute to
the consumption of wild birds and reptiles in
Abeokuta metropolis.
Y = f (X1, X2, X3, X4, X5, X6, X7).
Where Y stands for Consumption of Bush meat
Where X1 = age
X2 = marital status
X3 = academic background
X4 = family size
X5 = gender
X6 = religion
X7 = income
2
Results and Discussions
The result shows (Table 1) that 42.5% of the consumers
were between 31 and 40 years old, 38% were between
18
and 30 years of age, about 13% were between 41
and 50 years and those that were 51 years and above
accounted for about 5%. This is an indication that wild
birds and reptiles consumers cuts across different age
groups. It could be further observed from Table1 that
about 78% of the consumers were married while about
22%
of them were single. From the educational
distribution in, about 46% of the consumers had tertiary
education, close to 11.5% had no formal education and
those that had primary and secondary education
accounted for about 20.5% and 22% respectively. This
shows that respondents with tertiary education consume
reptiles and wild birds most. About 43.5% of
respondents with family size of between 1and 3 reveals
the highest level of consumption of wild birds and
reptiles. In addition, 50.5% of the consumers were
Muslims while 44% practice Christianity and other
religion accounted for about 5.5%. This implies that the
consumption of wild bird and reptile meat is acceptable
to all religions and it was evident in the observations of
the consumers (Table 2) where 52% of them said the
consumption of wild birds and reptiles has no
implication on their religion.
Table 2 shows the non-demographic distribution of
respondents which include reason for purchase,
preference, availability, safety and willingness. About
34%
of respondents purchase wild birds and reptiles for
medicinal purposes. This observation agrees with
several publications including Scoones et al (1992)
which reported that, wildlife products have high medicinal
Table 1 Demographics rating of respondents
S/N
Variables
Percentages (%)
1
Gender
Male
49.0
Female
51.0
Total
100.0
2
Age class
18
~30
38.0
31
~40
42.5
41
~50
13.0
51
~above
5.0
Total
100.0
3
Marital status
Single
22.0
Married
78.0
Total
100.0
4
Educational background
No formal education
11.5
Primary education
20.5
Secondary education
22.0
Tertiary education
46.0
Total
100.0
5
Size of family
1
~3
43.5
4
~6
30.5
7
~12
3.5
No response
22.5
Total
100.0
6
Religion
Muslim
50.5
Christian
44.0
Others
5.5
Total
100.0
7
Income**
Low class earner
56.5
Middle class earner
26.0
High class earner
5.5
Total
100.0
8
Occupation**
High class
9.5
Middle class
38.5
Lower class
52.0
Total
100.0
Note: **Low Class earners: Earn <
?
30 000.00;
Middle Class
earners:
?
30 000.00
~
?
100 000.00;
High Class earners: Earn
>
?
100 000.00;
$1 =
?
158
value. It was also observed that close to 32% of
respondents purchased for consumption purposes,
14.5%
purchased for the taste/flavour, 17% purchase
for their nutritional value while 2.5% were indecisive.
In addition, 77.5% of respondents consume occasionally,