Homegarden Plant use and their Traditional Management Practice in Bule Hora District, West Guji Zone, Southern Ethiopia

Abstract

Homegardens are one of the most diverse agroforestry systems and make a vital contribution to meet various household needs, especially for smallholder farmers in developing countries. Hence, this study aimed to assess the homegarden plant use and their traditional ways of management in Bule Hora district of Southern Ethiopia. A total of forty-eight households were randomly selected from three kebeles. Of which, seven key informants were selected purposively by criteria of age, good indigenous knowledge and long residence. Data were collected using focus group discussion, questionnaire, field observation and field work. Frequencies, relative frequencies, abundance and relative densities were used to analyze the data. A total of 70 plant species belongs to 39 families were identified. The Fabaceae had highest number of species 10 (14.29%), followed by Euphorbiaceae, Myrtaceae, Poaceae, Lamiaceae and Solanaceae with 4 (5.71%) species each. Tree accounted for the lion’s share of the plant habit. The use category of homegarden plant showed that food crops (40.98%), income sources (32 %), construction (14%), medicinal (13.3%), fuel (13%), shading (10%), soil fertility (10%), ornamentals (9.6%), live fence (8.30%), spices (7%), stimulants (5.3%), and fodder were identified. The distribution of homegarden plant species showed that Ensete ventricosum, Coffee arabica and Brassica carinata were the first dominant and frequent plant species. The people manage their homegarden traditionally through hand weeding, nursery preparation, organic fertilizer application, fencing and runoff controlling. So, the community had strong tradition on agroforestry practices and domestication on economically important plants to improve their livelihood.