Affiliations: Department of Agricultural Economics and Farm
Management University of Agriculture, P.M.B 2240, Abeokuta, Nigeria | Department of Agricultural Economics, University of
Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria
Abstract: This paper investigates the economic valuation of alternative uses
of rainforest land using the contingent valuation approach. Multi-stage
sampling technique was used in the collection of the 260 respondents in the
data from the four Ogun State Agricultural Development zones used for the
study. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and the
dichotomous-choice contingent valuation method that terminated into the logit
model. Food crop cultivation accounted for 66.4% of deforestation. The
households yearly willingness to pay/hectare (WTP/ha) for rainforest protection
was N16,186.76. This translated to N0.60 billion for the average 36,817.62
hectares/year deforested for food crop cultivation. The key determinants of the
likelihood to pay for rainforest protection were the bid, rainforest
visitation, and immigrant status that had the coefficient of −0.0074,
−0.11 and −0.71, and were significant (p<0.01) for bid and
(p<0.05) for the others. In addition were the income, educational status and
food crop producer status that had the coefficients of 0.13, 0.0063 and 0.00012
and were significant (p<0.01). Lower cost of rainforest protection as
indicated by the WTP would lead to further deforestation and the consequent
environmental impacts for a long time. There is therefore the urgent need for
environmental sensitization through education to arrest deforestation.
Keywords: Willingness to pay, bid, rainforest protection, environmental service functions, agro forestry
