Coffee Agroforestry and the Food and Nutrition Security of Small Farmers of South-Western Ethiopia

Omarsherif Mohammed Jemal,Meine Van Noordwijk,Daniel Callo-Concha

doi:10.3389/fsufs.2021.608868

Abstract

Agroforestry generally contributes to rural food and nutrition security (FNS). However, specialization on commodity-oriented agroforestry practices or management strategies can weaken local food sourcing when terms of trade fluctuate, as is the case of coffee in Ethiopia. Hence, this study assessed the trade-offs that smallholder farming households in south-western Ethiopia face between growing coffee in agroforestry systems and their food and nutrition security based on home production as well as markets. Data collected from 300 randomly selected households included: (i) attributes of agroforestry practices (AFP) and plants: structure, use type, edibility, marketability, nutritional traits, and (ii) the householders' FNS attributes: food security status, nutritional adequacy, and nutritional status. Data were collected both in food surplus and shortage seasons, during and after coffee harvesting. Within these data, the number of plant species and vegetation stories were significantly correlated with household food access security in both seasons and for all AFP identified, i.e., homegarden, multistorey-coffee-system, and multipurpose-trees-on-farmlands. The number of stories in homegardens and the richness of exotic species in multipurpose-trees-on-farmlands were significantly correlated with the biometric development of children below 5 years old during the shortage season. The richness of “actively-marketed” species in all AFP correlated with the food access security of the household, except in the multistorey-coffee-system, oriented to coffee production. Also, families that cultivate all three AFP showed significantly higher household diversity dietary during the shortage season. We conclude that no single AFP can secure FNS status of the households by itself, but the combination of all three can. Household and individual dietary scores were positively correlated with the AFP diversity-attributes, especially in the shortage season. Thus, the diversity of useful groups of plant species deserves to be promoted for instance by enriching AFP with edible and storable crops needed during the shortage season.

Highlights

Agroforestry systems, among other virtues, can help address various dimensions of food insecurity through local production and market exchange, and supply non-food agricultural tree products while contributing to maintenance of environmental quality (Mbow et al, 2014; Iiyama et al, 2015; Catacutan et al, 2017)
The number of plant species and the number of vegetation stories per plot had a significant negative correlation with the household Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) index in both seasons and for all agroforestry practices; but when cross analyzed with the scores for Household Dietary Diversity, Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS), the relation was statistically significant only for the shortage season
The number of species in MCS was significantly correlated with the HDDS and Individual Dietary Diversity Scores (IDDS) scores of both target population sections (NBF

Summary

Introduction

Agroforestry systems, among other virtues (van Noordwijk, 2019, 2021), can help address various dimensions of food insecurity through local production and market exchange, and supply non-food agricultural tree products while contributing to maintenance of environmental quality (Mbow et al, 2014; Iiyama et al, 2015; Catacutan et al, 2017) This is important for the rural poor in the global south, where improving people’s food and nutritional security, bettering their livelihoods, and maintaining environmental quality are fundamental goals (Duguma et al, 2001; Ickowitz et al, 2014; Mbow et al, 2014). Pearl millet yield was recently found to be three times higher below the tree crown than at five tree-crown radii (Roupsard et al, 2020)

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