Relationship Between Income-earned from Sale of Woodfuel and Volume Extracted from Gazetted Forests of Koibatek Zone, Kenya

Abstract

Approximately 2 billion people globally rely on woodfuel, that is, firewood, and charcoal to meet their energy needs. The average annual consumption of woodfuel per capita in Africa is 0.89 cubic meters, which is 67.0% of the total energy consumed. In Kenya, 68% of the total energy consumed is woodfuel. Although woodfuel contributes significantly to Kenya's economy, the relationship between the income-earned from selling woodfuel and the extracted volume is largely unexplored. This paper set out to investigate this relationship with particular interests in the gazetted forests of Koibatek Zone in Kenya. The research study used a cross-sectional descriptive design. All the eight gazetted forest blocks within the zone were purposively selected and, stratified random sampling was used to sample 384 woodfuel extractors as respondents within the zone. The primary data collection means included: review of woodfuel extraction registers of licenses, survey of 384 woodfuel extractors, key informant interviews with eight forest officers, eight focussed group discussions, and analysis of satellite images. Secondary data were obtained through critiquing documents of policies, office files, and journals. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (i.e., crosstabs and percentages), simple linear regression and Pearson chi-square tests. Qualitative information was tabulated and coded, and the tabulated data was analyzed. It was found that the income-earned through the sale of woodfuel has a significant (p < 0.05) connection with the volume of woodfuel harvested in the gazetted forests. Income-earned from sales could explain approximately 53.1% variation in volume of extracted woodfuel (R2 = 0.531). It was thereby concluded that the amount of woodfuel extracted has a direct significant relationship with income-earned from the sale of woodfuel. It is thus recommendable that the training of woodfuel extractors should be done concerning the laws in place, and the use of sustainable forest management and agroforestry practices should be provided to the extractors. The results of this research are crucial for policymakers at the energy and forestry levels in developing practices that sustain the harvesting and utilization of woodfuel.