Abstract
This study aimed to examining the variables that influenced choice of energy type for cooking among rural households in Egbeda Local Government Area of Oyo State, Nigeria. A total of one hundred and twenty (120) copies of questionnaire were randomly administered on the respondents through a multi-stage random sampling technique. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. The descriptive statistics used were frequency tables, percentages, mean, pie chart and bar chart while the inferential statistic used was Multinomial Logistic Regression. The results indicate that about 49% of the respondents were male while about 51% were female. The result of the multinomial logistic regression model showed age, marital status, educational status, household size, number of cooking per day as well as monthly income were among the factors that influenced respondents’ choice of energy type for cooking at 5% level of significance. Some factors were also identified by respondents as constraints to their choice of energy for cooking in the study area. These include high cost of energy, inadequate access to energy source, inadequate energy supply as well as low quality of energy. Consequent upon this, it is therefore recommended that government should ensure considerable reduction in prices of energy sources like electricity, gas and kerosine so as to reduce pressure on the choice of fuel wood as energy source. This will thereby reduce the mounting pressure on the forests in search of wood for fuel. As a corollary, people should also be encouraged to plant trees in order to ensure sustainability of the forests where fuel wood and charcoal are collected.
