An Appraisal of Benefits Derived from Taungya Farming on the Communities Around Onigambari Forest Reserve, Oyo State

Research on the economic benefits derived by communities around onigambari forest reserve where farmers participated on Taungya farming was conducted using a multistage sampling. The first stage was done through purposive sampling technique to select the four communities where farmers participated in Taungya farming, while structured questionnaires were administered to the farmers within selected communities through random sampling. A total of Two Hundred questionnaires were administered. Result from the research showed that male was more among the Taungya farmers (79%), young adults within the age range of 30 – 50 years are more than the aged people showing that energetic people are needed in farming. The average respondents in this research are primary school holders 58% and a school certificate holder 22%, showing that many of them might not be employed into white Collar Job and hence the need to engage themselves in farming as a primary occupation and their immediate family members as source of labour for farming operation having an average household size of between 6 and 10 members. Some of the crops cultivated by these farmers are maize, cassava, yam, cocoyam, tomatoes, pepper, etc. They enjoyed reduced weed, non-application of fertilization and free land for farming. They also helped the government plant up hundreds of hectares of land with valuable tree species and maintained the young plantation for the government until the trees form good canopy.