Rural Livelihood Activities and Ecological System Stability of Ikom Education Zone of Cross River State
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Abstract
The study examined the rural livelihood activities and ecological system stability of Ikom Education Zone of Cross River State, specifically examined the relationship between farming activities, timber exploitation. The research design adopted for this study was the quantitative research design using the expost facto approach. To successfully carry out the study, 2 research questions and two hypotheses were formulated in line with the objectives of the study. The population of the study consisted of 8,448 adults between the ages of 18 years and above. A sample of three hundred and eighty-six (386) respondents, representing 6% of 8,448 of the population of farmers, hunters, timber and non-timber forest products dealers and sand miners in the study area were selected for the study. The instrument for data collection was a 35-item questionnaire titled “Rural Communities Livelihood Activities and Ecological implication Questionnaire" (RCLAEQ). The instrument was face and construct validated by two experts from Educational Foundation (Measurement and Evaluation) and one from Environmental Education Department, University of Calabar, Calabar Cross River State. The reliability coefficient ranges between 0.78 and 0.93 was obtained using Cronbach Alpha reliability method statistics and was high enough to accept that the instrument was reliable. In answering the research question the simple regression model, while the simple regression analysis was employed to analyze hypotheses the hypotheses. The findings revealed that farming activities do have a reliable relationship with ecological system stability and timber exploitation significantly impacts on the ecological system stability in Ikom Education zone. This study concludes that rural livelihood activities, including farming and timber exploitation have significant impacts on ecological system stability in Ikom Education zone of Cross River State. It was recommended among others that farmers in Ikom Education zone should adopt sustainable farming practices, such as crop rotation and organic farming, to reduce the impact of farming activities on ecological system stability.
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