Intl. J. of Mol. Ecol. and Conserv. 2012, Vol. 2, No. 6, 32-38
http://ijmec.sophiapublisher.com
32
Research Report Open Access
Socio-economic Contribution, Marketing and Utilization of Edible Kolanut
(
Cola acuminata
and
Cola nitida
)
to Rural Women Livelihood in Abeokuta,
Nigeria
M.O. Adedokun
1
,
J. A.O. Soaga
1
,
A.T. Olawumi
2
,
O.O. Oyebanji
3
,
S.A. Oluwalana
1
,
E.A. Imaledo
1
1
Department of Forestry and Wildlife Management, Federal University of Agriculture, PMB 2240, Abeokuta, Nigeria
2
Department of Agricultural Production and Management Science, Tai Solarin University of Education, P.M.B.2118, Ijagun, Ijebu-Ode, Nigeria
3
Department of Botany, University of Lagos, Akoka Yaba Lagos, Nigeria
Corresponding author email:
soagaj@yahoo.com
Authors
International Journal of Molecular Ecology and Conservation, 2012, Vol.2, No.6 doi: 10.5376/ijmec.2012.02.0006
Received: 01 Nov., 2012
Accepted: 03 Nov., 2012
Published: 13 Mar., 2013
© 2012 Adedokun et al., This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use,
distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Preferred citation for this article:
Adedokun et al., 2012, Socio-economic Contribution, Marketing and Utilization of Edible Kolanut (
Cola acuminata
and
Cola nitida
)
to Rural Women
Livelihood in Abeokuta, Nigeria, International Journal of Molecular Ecology and Conservation, Vol.2, No.6, 32-38
(
doi: 10.5376/ijmec.2012.02.0006)
Abstract
This study was centred on the edible cola nuts (
Cola acuminata
and
Cola nitida
),
often referred to as obi abata and gbanja
(
yoruba) in Abeokuta metropolis. The study examined economic impacts and various uses of the cola nut. Structured questionnaire
with open and close questions was distributed to120 respondents in the study area. Markets were selected from three Local
government areas namely Lafenwa, Kuto, Iberekodo and Ishiun at Owode Egba purposively. The markets are local markets where
farm produce are being sold in the study area. Descriptive statistics, cost and return analysis was used to analyze the data obtained
from the study. The result obtained shows that 88.33% of the respondents were female who engage in the trade, 52.50% were in age
group above 45 years which was the largest and were Yoruba. 51.87% had no formal education and are mostly full-time sellers. The
result also revealed that traditionally 81.67% uses the nut for wedding and 97.50% for dye. The cost analysis reveals the average
profit for each market, at Ishiun N3 293.375, Lafenwa N8 702.83, Kuto N4 869.40, and Iberekodo N3 127.20 and the rate of return
on investment were at Ishiun 33.24%, Lafenwa 35.96%, Kuto 33.17%, Iberekodo 26.54% , respectively. It shows that Lafenwa has
the highest rate of returns on investment and profit. The result also showed that the mean value of profit and return on investment for
all the market were N4 998.21 and 32.23% respectively, this was due to the level of organisation in transaction in the market. The
result also reveals the market margin per market at Ishiun 24.95%, Lafenwa 26.45%, Kuto 24.95%, and Iberekodo 21.00%
respectively with the mean margin for all the market at 24.33%. The major problem encountered in business was basically that of
storage with insect infestation at 53.33% and heat 51.67% which reduces the value and invariably the price of the product. Hence, a
good storage system is important to improve sales. Hence a good policy must be put in place for good storage system to improve
quality during storage and enhance income of respondents.
Keywords
Socio-economic; Cola marketing; Rural women; Livelihood
Introduction
In the last decades, there has been more research on
the roles of forest in the livelihood of the rural
population. Much of the research has looked into the
gathering of non-timber forest product (NTFPs) which
includes resins, fodder, spices, food, medicine, leaves,
honey and nuts. Also all by –products of the forest
not used in large quantity by the industries and
produce from the trees such as
Parkia biglobosa
,
Dacryodes edulis
,
Irvingia
spp.,
Afzelia africana,
Garcinia cola
etc on fallow or farmland. In the past
years people have increasingly recognised non-timber
forest products for the important cultural, subsistence
and market values that they add to rural forest and
individual household worldwide (Community
Resource, 2000). Nearly all the ethnic groups around
the globe rely on non-timber forest products for
household income, food, medicine, construction
supplies and materials for decorative and ceremonial
purpose. These resources are economically important
during times of economic hardship or during lulls in
agricultural production. Despite increasing use and
recognition of non- timber forest products, they were
referred to as rural resources collected from rural areas