Contribution of parkland agroforestry in supplying fuel wood and its main challenges in Tigray, Northern, Ethiopia

Abstract

Agroforestry is an aged practice in the Ethiopian farming systems of which parkland trees comprise the large part of agricultural landscapes. It is also the most dominant agroforestry practice in the semi-arid and sub-humid zones of Ethiopia. However, there is lack of research based evidence that shows the contribution of parkland agroforestry on fulfilling households’ fuel wood demand and towards improving the smallholder farmers’ livelihood. Hence, the main objective of this study was to assess the role of parkland agroforestry practice on fulfilling households’ fuel wood demand, improving livelihood and to identify the main constraint. Primary data was collected from actual field measurement and questionnaire based face to face interview with randomly drawn 138 parkland agroforestry user and non-user. Guided field observations, interview with key informants and focused group discussion were also conducted. About 108.56 ton (79.2%) annual fuel wood consumption was harvested from the parkland trees; whereas the non-parkland agroforestry households were mainly dependent on the surrounding natural forests to meet their fuel wood demand. The Propensity Score Matching model result indicated that there was significant difference (p<0.05) among the parkland agroforestry introduced and non-introduced households on the time they spent to collect fuel wood and income. Parkland agroforestry plays a crucial role in the households’ livelihood improvement (for example, income) and also to stabilize the pressure on local forests. However, the major challenges faced to improve the parkland agroforestry practice are farmland distance, free grazing, farmland size, general prohibition of fire wood selling, lack of farmers’ awareness, lack of extension support and dry climatic condition. Therefore, to enhance the multiple benefits of the parkland agroforestry, the main constraints that hinder the sustainability of the parkland agroforestry should be addressed. Key words: Agroforestry, fuel wood, livelihood, household, local forest, parkland.