Gender Analysis of Rural Dwellers Accessibility to Free Natural Resources in Ussa Local Government Area of Taraba State, Nigeria

The study analyzed gender accessibility of rural dwellers to free natural resources in Ussa Local Government Area of Taraba State, Nigeria. Primary data were collected using structured questionnaire. Sixty respondents were selected purposively to ensure that only forest resource gatherers were included in the study. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data collected. The findings of the study revealed that equal number of male and female respondents (41.4% each) were farmers. Also 32.4% and 31% of male and female respondents were landless. About 62% of male and 75.7% of female respondents were educated. About 87% and 90% of male and female had household sizes of over 5 persons. Men had more access to high income yielding forest resources than women. The result showed that the women took more of what they gathered home to meet household needs while a little was sold for income, while men sold most of what they collected with only little was left for home consumption. Based on the results of the study, it was recommended that increased gender based capacity building and responsibility for management of free natural resources should be encouraged among rural dwellers in order to ensure sustainability of the resources in contributing to food security and poverty alleviation among free natural resource gatherers in the study area.