QUANTIFICATION OF FUELWOOD SUPPLY TO KANO METROPOLIS, NIGERIA

Abstract

The high demand of fuelwood, especially for domestic use in sub-Saharan Africa, means the need for cutting down trees to augment such demand. This in turn leads to forest degradation and thus destruction of carbon sinks, that further aggravates climate change. This paper thus sets out to quantify the trees lost to fuelwood supply to Kano metropolis. This was achieved by the following objectives; a) examining the amount of fuelwood supplied to the metropolis on a daily and monthly basis over a 90-day period, and b) mapping the source regions by the quantity of fuelwood they supply. The methods employed include monitoring the number of vehicles that supply fuelwood to the fuelwood main depot (vehicular data monitoring), 6 in-depth interviews were conducted with the members of Fuelwood Association that comprised of the truck drivers (yangudubale), sellers, the chairman and secretary of the association, 3 transect walks were conducted at 3 of the major source regions with forest extension workers, and the review of relevant secondary data. From the vehicular data monitoring at the Mariri fuelwood depot in Kano metropolis, over the 90-day period 20,497 tonnes of fuelwood was supplied to the metropolis, with the most coming from Bauchi (66.8%), Kano (20.1%) and Gombe states (9.8%), and the least from Katsina state (0.1%). 12,736 tonnes was supplied for the first 30-day period (Dec, 2017/Jan, 2018), 6,768 tonnes for the second (March/April, 2018) and 9,313 tonnes for the third period (July/August, 2018). For every 17 tonnes of fuelwood, about 50-55 trees are lost. It is concluded therefore, that a significant number of trees are lost to fuelwood utilization in kano metropolis.