Evaluation of Charcoal Policies Compliance in Benue State, Nigeria

Abstract

Charcoal is becoming one of the most common types of wood energy in Nigeria and Benue State in particular. However, the concern about charcoal production and usage is because of the unsustainable practices that heralded the activities along the charcoal value chain (CVC). To contribute to the current debate, this study investigated the level of awareness of, and compliance with charcoal policies among key actors of the CVC in Benue State, Nigeria. Using a multistage sampling procedure, seven dominant charcoal-producing local government areas were purposively selected. Further, two prominent communities in each LGA were selected (14 communities) and the population of actors in the CVC were profiled into producers, off-takers, transporters and consumers. Yamane’s formula was employed to select appropriate samples at each node: 157 producers, 63 transporters, 114 off-takers and 399 consumers as well as the regulators from the available pools, while Bowley’s proportional allocation formula was used to select appropriate sample sizes at each stratum. Data was elicited from respondents using digital questionnaires (Kobotoolbox) and analyzed with the aid of IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences 23® and FAO VCA-tool 3.2. The result of the awareness of charcoal production policies showed that the actors in the CVC were majorly ignorant of the extant policies regulating charcoal activities, except for the regulators in Benue State. Actors identified three policy structures: the ban on charcoal production (65.28%), sustainable production (23.34%) and market regulation (11.40%) which were majorly (79.38%) by the DFOs. The levels of compliance and the effectiveness of the policies were generally poor across all value chain nodes. Further, the majority of the CVC actors operated without any registration or payment of royalties. The study thus, highlights the need for increased awareness, education, and enforcement of charcoal policies to ensure sustainable charcoal production to mitigate the attendant environmental degradation arising from charcoal production in Benue State.