English

Abstract

The global forest coverage has declined from year to year due to human and natural factors. To address the problems, different rehabilitation strategies have been implemented through government and community in a coordinated manner. This study investigated factors affecting smallholder farmers’ participation in degraded forest rehabilitation at participatory forest management in Ethiopia. We used two-stage sampling procedure to select 140 sample households randomly from the district using probability proportional to size. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected from primary and secondary sources. Tobit model was employed to analyze factors affecting smallholder farmers’ participation and the level of participation in forest rehabilitation. The findings demonstrate that livestock holding size, the benefit derived from the forest, forest cooperative membership, perception of households and access to extension services positively affect farmers participation and the level of participation; whereas distance of the forest from the home negatively affects farmers’ participation and the level of participation in forest rehabilitation. The study suggested that awareness creation, clear discussion with communities, strengthening existing benefits, creating related ones and providing more extension services, information and supports are required to improve farmers’ participation in degraded forest rehabilitation practices. Key words: Smallholder farmers, participation, forest degradation, rehabilitation, participatory forest management, tobit.