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The Hadejia-Nguru Wetlands play a major role in the regional economy of northern Nigeria. Recent attempts have been made to value the production of most of the major sub-systems of the Hadejia-Jama are floodplain, including irrigated farming, flood and rainfed agriculture, fisheries and livestock. However there is little information on the economic role of other wild resources harvested from the floodplain. This paper presents the results of a training workshop and field study undertaken to assess the economic importance of the major wild resources harvested within the Wetlands using participatory appraisal techniques. The aim of the study was to provide new information for development planning in the region by increasing the understanding of local economic activities. A variety of values, including financial values, economic values and returns to labour, are complemented by extensive qualitative information on resource use. The paper also discusses how the study employed participatory appraisal techniques to investigate economic values: participatory methods were used more extensively than some other studies which have relied on conventional questionnaire-based surveys. Despite the modest research results, the findings reveal some promising possibilities for using such methods to generate numerical information. |
