Essay On Agroforestry

In the other side, agroforestry can potentially increase the availability of food from animal and insects like bee through a provision of fodder, forage and shade. In East Africa, more than 200000 smallholder dairy farmers are growing fodder shrubs as supplementary feed and from this a considerable increase in milk yield was achieved (Place et al. 2009). In the highlands of central Kenya, for example, farmers plant fodder shrubs, especially Calliandra calothyrsus and Leucaena trichandra, to use as feed for their stall-fed dairy cows (Franzel, Wambugu and Tuwei, 2003) In Cagayan de Oro, Philippines, a combination of improved fodder grasses and trees (Gliricidia sepium) has helped farmers increase income from livestock production, increase crop production and reduce farm labour, especially for herding and tethering (Bosma et al., 2003).

In the other direction, agroforestry improve the household economy and access to food in different ways. A diversified marketable commodities can be harvested directly from agroforestry trees, for example fruits (like Sclerocarya birrea (Marula), Tamarindus indica (Tamarind), Mangifera indica (mango), etc.), oil crop (Vitellaria paradoxa, Jatropha curcas...), gum and so on. Examples from Africa of widely traded agroforestry tree foods that support farmers’ incomes include the indigenous semi-domesticated and widely cultivated fruit safou (Dacryodes edulis) (Schreckenberg et al., 2006), the indigenous incipient domesticate Shea nut (Vitellaria paradoxa) (Masters and Addaquay 2011). Similarly, in Kenya trees are cultivated to provide medicines from bark, seeds, flowers, leaves, roots, etc., and usually they are sold to generate incomes and are used for self-treatment, supporting the health of communit...

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...of Ethiopia together with the divers ethnic composition of its people, have made a different types of agroforestry system to be evolved. The Faidherbia albida-based parklands agroforestry in the Eastern Highlands and rift valley area (Poschen, 1986; Hoekstra et. al., 1990; Abebe, 2000), the multi-storey homegardens of the Gedio people (Tesfaye, Wiersum and Bonger, 2010), and the coffee based agroforestry system of Jimma area can be mentioned as an example. Except few, most of these traditional agroforestry system in Ethiopia have not been studied yet. A scientific information or quantification about their role or contribution on household or individual food security are hardly available. Such type of information are required for and crucial for improving the performance of any given system and scale it up for larger area coverage with in similar agro climatic zone.