Socio-economic traits and constraints associated with smallholder farmers in Taungya agroforestry program in Sudan

Abstract

Empirical evidence of Taungya agroforestry program in Sudan was generated. The objectives were to examine the association between socio-economic characteristics of farmers and Tuangya practice, assess the program’s contribution to farmers' income, and highlight farmers’ major incentives and constraints. The purposive sampling technique was applied targeting 200 Taungya farmers. Data were collected using questionnaires, focus group discussions, key informant interviews, direct field observations, and document reviews. Descriptive statistics, the chi-square test, and a paired sample t-test were used to analyze the data. Study results showed that 77% of farmers were male, with an average age of 41 years. About 77% of farmers cultivate an average land area of 3.5 hectares. The chi-square result showed that socio-economic characteristics such as marital status, age, family size, year of participation, and educational level had a significant association with Taungya practice, while gender, main occupation, and land size had no significant association. The study revealed that Taungya agroforestry program contributed significantly to farmers’ income. Evidence of that was the sharp reduction in mean annual costs from SDG 32,851.75 to SDG 25,107.50, and a substantial increase in the mean annual net incomes of the farmers from SDG 35,298.52 to SDG 91,839.50 before and after participation, respectively. Farmers’ participation was encouraged by the high productivity within the forest and access to free fertile land. Contrary, lack of extension services and supervision from Forest National Corporation, overgrazing and crop destruction, land size limitation, and crop species restrictions were identified as major challenges. The study suggests that prioritizing extension services, providing live fencing, and reconsidering farmers’ interest in having intercropping sorghum on their farms to improve their sustenance will overcome the constraints and further boost farmers' productivity.