Abstract
The homestead multistory agroforestry demonstration was conducted at Tarmaber district of North Shewa zone to demonstrate and evaluate model multistory agroforestry practice for its ecological and economic importance for the rural communities of the area. The demonstration in addition aimed to further enhance farmers' knowledge on this new cultivation method before any further adoption. The demonstration study was started in June 2013 as multistory agroforestry practices and established with special and temporal arrangements with three strata. The upper stratum comprised tree components, middle stratum was fruits and the lower stratum was different annual crops. The total area of a demonstration site was 0.045ha. Persea americana, Rhamnus prinoides, Coffea arabica, Musa paradisiaca, Phaseolus lunatus, Hibisicus sabdariffa and Vigna unguiculata were planted at different time of the lifetime of the study and yield data were collected. The results from this demonstration study showed that, on average 1507 kg of edible NTFPs harvested per hectare per year. Organic matter and available phosphorus were increased from 1.52 to 2.14%, and 4.26 to 15.98 ppm, respectively. In addition, this practice showed higher net present value (NPV) and benefit-cost ratio (B/C) than the two crop land 3537.36 US$ and 3.3 per ha from these different components. From this study it can be concluded that multistory agroforestry may be ecologically advantageous land use system for sustainable food, biomass production and economic return comparing with conventional agricultural practices. Therefore, future agricultural extension adoption should consider this homegarden agro-forestry practice for sustainable agricultural production and productivity especially in North Shewa areas where this practice is not well known.
Highlights
One of the most severe challenges faced by decisionmakers in developing countries is how to improve the wellbeing of the poor in rural areas while maintaining a healthy environment [1]
Tree density, basal areas are presented in table 2
Tree density and basal area of demonstrated multistory agroforestry were remarkably higher than the result reported by [23] in Dallo Mena District, South-East Ethiopia; [24 and 15] in Southern Ethiopia
Summary
One of the most severe challenges faced by decisionmakers in developing countries is how to improve the wellbeing of the poor in rural areas while maintaining a healthy environment [1]. Food insecurity and poverty are undergoing processes that have been hampering livelihoods of the rural poor of many developing countries. Over the last four decades, agricultural production is increasing due to improved management and inputs. It is threatened by worsening climatic changes, land degradation, and low diversification. This resulted in the mismatch of demand and supply from agricultural production in the developing countries has seldom matched the needs of the people. 58% are in dry lands and 42% in humid areas [2]
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