NIGERIAN JOURNAL OF FORESTRY

This study was carried out to assess shea butter utilization among agrarian communities of Oke- Ogun Area of Oyo State. The data for the study was collected with the aid of structured questionnaires and interview guide. A purposive sampling procedure was used to select a hundred and fifty respondents in Atisbo, Saki East and Saki West Local Government Areas. The data were analysed using descriptive statistic and Ordinary Least Square (OLS) multiple regression. The result revealed that majority of the respondents (79.33%) were female, 28% had secondary education. Years of usage reveals that 35.3% respondents had used shea butter close to four decades. The multiple regression results show that age (0.000, p >0.01), has a significant relationship with shea butter consumption. There is an inverse relationship between the consumption of shea butter and educational level (0.003, p >0.01). All the respondents (100%) use shea butter as food and cream. Forest fire and land ownership/ tenure are the major challenges militating against the availability of the Vitellaria paradoxa trees. It is recommended that the various uses as discovered in this research study of shea butter should be given its widest publicity nation-wide judging from the many uses of its potentials in the study area.