Assessment of Geospatial Distribution of Sawmills in Ife-East Local Government Area, Osun State, Nigeria

Abstract

Generally, in Nigeria, there is a problem of inadequate collection of data and information, particularly in forestry, which poses a severe threat to the effective management and sustainability of forest and forest resources. Hence, the objective of this paper is to assess the geospatial distribution of sawmills in Ife-East Local Government Area, Osun State, Nigeria, using a Geographic Information System and a semi-structured questionnaire administered to 67 sawmills. Data obtained shows that the type of machines used in sawmills were predominantly CD6 and circular saws (67.16%), while a few others use CD-6 (28.36%) and CD-6, shaping machines and circular saws (4.38%). The results also revealed that there has been a drastic decrease in the sawmill industry from 94 to 67. The research findings from this study are adequate to help investors in the wood industry determine the location, type of machines used for log conversion and mode of operations.

Keywords

• Forestry; Deforestation; Sawmill Information System; Sustainability