Abstract
Homegarden agroforestry is believed to be more diverse and provide multiple services for household than other monocropping system and this is due to the combination of crops, trees and livestock. The aim of this study was to assess socio-economic and agro-ecological role of homegardens in Jabithenan district, North-western Ethiopia. Two sites purposively and two villages randomly from each site were selected. Totally 96 households; in which 48 from homegarden agroforestry user and 48 from non-tree based garden user were selected for this study. Socio-economic data and potential economic and agro-ecosystem role of homegarden agroforestry over non-tree based garden were collected by using semi-structured and structured questionnaires to the households. Homegarden agroforestry significantly (P < 0.05) improved the farmers cash income than non-tree based garden. With insignificant garden size; homegarden agroforestry practice provides good socio-economical and agro-ecological service for farmers which have a higher implication for climate change adaptation than non-tree based garden.
Highlights
Large percentages of the Ethiopian population (80%) depend upon agriculture for their livelihoods, and contribute 42-45% of the total gross domestic product of the country (Zenebe et al 2011)
Rainfall variability and associated drought have been the major cause of food shortage and famine in Ethiopia
Description of the study area The study was conducted in Jabithenan district, Northwestern Ethiopia
Summary
Background and justification Large percentages of the Ethiopian population (80%) depend upon agriculture for their livelihoods, and contribute 42-45% of the total gross domestic product of the country (Zenebe et al 2011). Among them; climate change, land degradation in the form of soil erosion, soil fertility loss (which are important for grain yield production) and severe soil moisture stress, which is partly the result of loss of trees in their field and organic matter (Salvatore et al 2011). Regarding climate change the country is one of world’s drought prone country, which lead to challenges in food production especially because 95% of the agricultural activity is dependent on rainfall (Eriksen and Kelly 2005). Rainfall variability and associated drought have been the major cause of food shortage and famine in Ethiopia (Salvatore et al 2011). The whole effect of the above problem is loss of biodiversity, financial insecurity, food insecurity, subsequent increases in rates of malnutrition, which are becoming the major tribulations of human well-being, so that adaptation to this serious problem should be necessary
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