Contributions of Agroforestry to household livelihood improvement in Mitooma sub-county, Mitooma district

Abstract

While agroforestry practices are associated with many benefits that provide livelihoods to many households, there is limited understanding of the contribution of agroforestry practices towards household livelihood improvement in Mitooma district. Thus, this study was undertaken to ascertain the contributions of agroforestry practices towards household livelihood improvement in Mitooma sub-county. The specific objectives were: (i)To document major agroforestry practices and preferred components (ii)To analyze potential benefits of agroforestry practices to the improvement of household livelihoods (iii) To assess the factors influencing participation of household agroforestry practices. (iv)To determine on-farm tree species diversity and composition in the area. Semi-structured questionnaires were administered to 60 sampled households to collect data on agroforestry practices their components and factors influencing participation of farmers in agroforestry. Key informant interviews, focus group discussions and transect walks were also conducted. Tree inventory was conducted in 5 established plots per household. Data on diameter, and number of trees were collected and recorded in an inventory data sheet using diameter tape, and vernier caliper. The collected household data were analyzed using statistical package for social scientists and presented using descriptive statistics. A chi square test was also conducted to determine the influence of the social demographic characteristics influencing the participation of farmers in agroforestry and management of trees. Tree species diversity were analysed by entering the tree inventory data in Ms Excel and both tree species diversity and richness were computed. Both tree composition and tree species diversity (H=2.368994) were high . Major tree families encountered included: Myrtaceae, Fabaceae, Moraceae, Anacardiaceaea, Lauraceae, Cupressaceae, Roseceae and Bignoniaceae families. Education level had a significant influence on farmers’ participation in the management of trees on-farms (P=0.042), Results also indicated that the dominant agroforestry practices were: Home gardens (85%), Plantation crop combinations (58.3%), Multipurpose trees on cropland (51.7%), and the least was protein bank (1.7%). The reported preferred tree species were Persea american (78.3%), Coffee (61.7%) and Eucalyptus (56.7%). The most preferred animals were goats (73.3%), poultry (48.3%) and cows (41.7%). Agroforestry practices contributed products like food/fruits (88.3%), fuel (60%), medicine (55%), income (30%) and timber (16.7%) were reported to be contributing a lot to respondents’ livelihoods. It is clear from the findings that many farmers are practicing agroforestry with the main products being preferred for livelihood improvement. The major factors influencing farmers participation in agroforestry were limited land, inadequate funds, natural disasters and limited access to information on agroforestry. Farmers therefore need to be sensitized and encouraged to have land title to secure land rights and security if at all their participation in agroforestry were to be improved. Modern agroforestry technology should only be introduced in the area after a careful consideration of socio-cultural and economic characteristics of the households and level of knowledge they have on tree management. Key words: Agroforestry Practices, Food Security, Indigenous Knowledge, Livelihood Improvement, On-farm Trees