Natural and forest-rich ecosystems are determinants of environmental sustainability, which are threatened by forest land conversion for agricultural purposes, especially in less-developed contexts. Moreover, human behaviour is central to achieving the much desired ecologically balanced environment. Hence, a partly novel model informed by the theory of planned behaviour was used in the examination of forest land conversion for agricultural purposes.
The study design was a cross-sectional survey targeted at a group of farmers of southwestern Nigeria. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire among 320 randomly selected crop farmers. Independent samples
Results showed that 87.8% of respondents had ever engaged in forest conversion. Gender and education had no significant effect on forest conversion behaviour (
Middle age predisposes to, whereas younger and older age protects against greater extent of forest conversion. The partly novel model derived from the theory of planned behaviour proves the likely viability of the pursuit of socio-psychologically predicated interventions to enthrone forest conservation.