Abstract
This study was carried out in the southern zone of Tigray to identify and characterize traditional common agroforestry practices and understand the existing knowledge of farm households on the management of trees under different agroforestry in different agroecologies. We conducted reconnaissance and diagnostic surveys by systematically and randomly selecting 147 farming households in the three agroecologies of the study area. A logit regression model was employed to determine how these factors influence farmers’ adoption decision. The findings indicate that a majority of the households (46.3%) were engaged in homestead agroforestry practices (AFP), followed by live fence (25.9%) and farmland or parkland (15%) agroforestry practices. The study identified Carica papaya, Malus domestic, Persea americana, Mangifera indica, Ziziphus spina-christi, and Balanites aegyptiaca as the most dominant fruit tree species found in the home garden agroforestry. In total, 68% of the households had some of these fruit trees around their home gardens. We also established the three most dominant agricultural production systems as: i) Agricultural production system, composed of fruit tree + cereal crops + Ziziphus spina-christi + Balanites aegyptiaca and/or acacia species; ii) agricultural production system, consisting of cash crops, like Coffee arabica and Catha edulies + fruit trees + Cordia africana + Balanites aegyptiaca and/or acacia species; and iii) agricultural production, composed of fruit trees + vegetables within a boundary of Sesbania sesban and other acacia species in the modern irrigated land. Furthermore, 90.16% of the households in the highlands reported a shortage of farmland for planting trees as the main constraint. About 34.44% farmers reported using leaves of Cordia africana, Balanites aegyptiaca, pods of acacia species, and crop residue as the main source of animal fodder. In total, 86.4% of the households also recognized the importance of multipurpose trees for soil fertility enhancement, control of runoff, microclimate amelioration, environmental protection, and dry season animal fodder. According to the logit model analysis, sex, family size, educational level, and landholding significantly (p < 0.05) influence the household’s role in the adoption of agroforestry practices. Based on these findings, farmers used different adaptation strategies, such as planting of multi-purpose trees (34.7%), conservation tillage to minimize both erosion and runoff potentials as soil conservation strategies (27.2%), varying planting dates, use of drought tolerant crop varieties (16.3%), and others based on farmers’ indigenous knowledge passed down from generation to generation. We conclude that agroforestry practices are important components of farming systems in Tigray, resulting in diversified products and ecological benefits that improve socio-ecological resilience. Therefore, we recommend that agroforestry practices are mainstreamed into development plans, especially in agriculture.
Highlights
Land degradation implies a reduction or loss in arid, semiarid, and dry sub-humid areas of biological or economic productivity of land, usually resulting from land use cover change (LUCC) or processes arising from anthropogenic activities, such as soil erosion caused by long-term deterioration of natural vegetation [1]
Age of farmers adopting agroforestry is considered an important aspect and this study revealed that most adopters averaged an age of about 43.6 years, with about 49% of the adopters falling within the age of 20 to 40 years This might imply that the younger farmers have potential for the adoption and implementation of agricultural activities due to their invreased exposure to information and dissemination of agricultural extension compared to old farmers
The results showed that there are no significant variations in the adoption of agroforestry technology among other age groups, those farmers aged 41 to 50 years contributed 17.5%
Summary
Land degradation implies a reduction or loss in arid, semiarid, and dry sub-humid areas of biological or economic productivity of land, usually resulting from land use cover change (LUCC) or processes arising from anthropogenic activities, such as soil erosion caused by long-term deterioration of natural vegetation [1]. The Ethiopian highlands constitute a large part of the Afromontane region, which is one of the biodiversity hotspots in Africa [2,3] and stretches from Cameroon to eastern Africa [2] Human activities, such as overgrazing, large- and small-scale mining, deforestation, cultivation on steep slopes, rapid population growth, and clearing of vegetation, are playing increasingly important roles in changing environments, causing unprecedented land degradation and depletion of natural resources [1,3]. Agroforestry is increasingly being used to reduce resources use conflicts between arable farming, livestock rearing, and forestry interests, especially in human-dominated landscapes with high population pressure [13] Due to their socio-environmental benefits, a variety of agroforestry technologies are finding enormous application in the east and central African regions [12]. The application of appropriate agroforestry practices/systems is determined mainly by agroecological diversity [14]
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