Introduction: In the recent decades, there has been growing interest in the contribution of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) to livelihoods, development, and poverty alleviation among the rural populace. This has been prompted by the fact that communities living adjacent to forest reserves rely to a great extent on the NTFPs for their livelihoods, and therefore any effort to conserve such resources should as a prerequisite understand how the host communities interact with them. Methods: Multistage sampling technique was used for the study. A representative sample of 400 households was used to explore the utilization of NTFPs and their contribution to households' income in communities proximate to Falgore Game Reserve (FGR) in Kano State, Nigeria. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression analysis were used to analyze and summarize the data collected.

Introduction: Multi-temporal land-use and land-cover data provides a historical vehicle for determining and evaluating long-term trends in bio-physical landscapes. Land-use and land-cover assessment and mapping is one of the most useful applications of geographic information system (GIS) for planning, management, and development. This study analyses the spatio-temporal pattern of forest cover dynamics for three decades in Falgore Game Reserve in Kano, Nigeria. The dynamics of forest cover transition during 1985-2015 was analysed using multi-temporal Landsat imagery. Results:The spatio-temporal analysis shows that moderate woodland dominated in 1985 (46%) and 2005 (57%) but was replaced by open woodland in 2015 which accounts for 58% of the total area of Falgore Game Reserve (FGR) currently. Dense woodland occupied the least area of the total forest estate that varied between 17% in 1985 and 1% in 2015. The results indicate that dense woodland, moderate woodland, and very open woodland were decreased at annual average rate of 3, 1, and 0.4%. Open woodland had expanded from 21,127 ha in 1985 to 53,392 ha in 2015. The main drivers of forest resource degradation in the area were found to be excessive fuelwood collection, overgrazing, agricultural expansion, and forest fire. Conclusions: These findings suggest that protection strategies employed in FGR were not effective as deforestation is still evident in the reserve. Government and environmental based NGOs should therefore prioritize effective and efficient conservation strategy for present and future use of forest resources, in addition to the provision of alternative livelihood sources to communities proximate to the reserve. This will ensure the socio-economic well-being of the locals and sustainable conservation of biological diversity in the area.

This study analyzed impact of contract farming on productivity and food security status of smallholder maize farmer’s household in Kano and Kaduna States, Nigeria. A multistage sampling technique was used to collect data from 466 smallholder maize farmers with the use of a-structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, household dietary diversity scores (HDDS), and propensity score matching were used to achieve objectives of the study. Result of descriptive statistics shown that, average age of contract participants was 39years; with farming experience of 20years and had an average farm size of 2.39 hectare. On the other hand, non-contract participants had an average age of 37years and average farming experience of 18years with a farm size average of 2.34hectare. HDDS result revealed households participating in contract farming to have mildly better food security status with an average dietary diversity score of 5.16, against non-contract participating farmers that have 3.15 household dietary diversity score average. PSM result for the impact revealed that contract farming had positively (P<0.01) impacted on maize yield (ATT=1.7ton/ha), and food security status of the participating household (ATT=0.893). Therefore participation in maize contract farming increases productivity and reduces food insecurity status of smallholder maize farmers; it can therefore be recommended that contract farming can be used as an instrument to reduce food insecurity and poverty among rural farming household.