Preference of Wood and Composite Based Furniture Utilization in Households within Otukpo Town, Benue State, Nigeria

摘要

The choice for wood and composite based furniture in three zones of Otukpo Local Government Area (LGAs) was assessed. Google form structured questionnaire was administered in the three purposely selected Wards: Otukpo Town Central, Otukpo Town East and Otukpo Town West based on population dispersion. Simple Random Sampling technique was used to administer 300 copies of structured questionnaire to respondents in 300 households as: 120 respondents in Otukpo Town Central and 90 in each of Otukpo Town East and Otukpo Town West respectively. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results showed that female respondents constituted 62.33% while males 37.67%. Respondents were mostly youths between 21-30 years (30.67%) and 31-40 years (27.33%) who majorly have tertiary education (68.67%). Respondents were married (55.67%), single (40%), traders (42%) and 23% were civil servants. Most of the households sampled had bed (93%) which was 94.4% wood-based while 59.4% wall hanger used by respondents was composite-based. Respondents (84%) preferred wood-based furniture while 15% used and preferred both wood and composite based furniture. Although respondents (91.4%) preferred wood-based furniture because of its durability, 44.1% chose composite-based furniture because some households were using them. Also, 28.8% preferred composite-based because of low cost of purchase. The majority of respondents (95.7%) desired locally made furniture as 97.7% agreed that the decline in wood supply will affect the choice of furniture type in the future. It was concluded that based on fast decline in wood supply because of ever increasing deforestation as acknowledged by respondents, this trends would definitely attract upsurge in demand for composite-based furniture in Otukpo town in the coming years.