Economic Evaluation of Urban Forest Tree Service Functions in Benue State Secretariat Makurdi, Benue State

Abstract

This study is carried out on economic evaluation of urban forest tree service functions in Benue State Secretariat Makurdi, Benue State. The Willingness to Pay (WTP) format of contingent Valuation Method (CVM) was adopted to elicit information on monetary values for the services provided by urban trees. Data was collected through a structured questionnaire administered to 57 respondents. The respondents were randomly selected from three cadres of workers in the Benue state civil service. They were Higher, lower and middle cadres. Descriptive and statistical tools such as mean, mode, tables, frequency and percentages were used to analyse the data. Also, multiple regression analysis was used to determine socio-economic factors determining willingness to pay (WTP). A total of 56.1% of the respondents indicated willingness to pay money ranging from N50 to N500 monthly. N100 had a wider range with percentages of 57%, 14.3% and 28.6% for higher, middle and lower cadre respectively and thus represent the modal value. The overall mean of willingness to pay was found to be N624.33. The study revealed that 100% of the respondents were aware of environmental services trees provide except for pollution abatement (14.6%). The linear regression equation revealed that the age of respondents significantly influenced Willingness to Pay (WTP) in the study area at 5% level of significance. It is therefore concluded that the sampled respondents valued the environmental services of forest trees and are willing to contribute to the continuous existence of trees in the study area. Therefore, there is the need to create more awareness and educate the people to understand that forest trees are depletable renewable resources that require sound management and conservation for their sustainable utilization.