Cogent Food & Agriculture (Dec 2022)
Mangifera indica (L.) tree as agroforestry component: Environmental and socio-economic roles in Abaya-Chamo catchments of the Southern Rift Valley of Ethiopia
Abstract
AbstractThe integration of woody perennials into the agricultural ecosystem often has diversified environmental, economic and social benefits. Mangiferaindicabased agroforestry system in southern rift valley is not investigated and scientifically documented well. The current study tried to investigate the environmental and socio-economic roles of the mango-based agroforestry system in the southern rift valley around the Abaya-Chamo catchment, especially in the Gamo Zone. Three kebeles (a small administrative unit in Ethiopia) were selected purposively based on the potential, and about 151 household heads were interviewed by questionnaires from May 2021 to July 2021. Household socio-economic data and environmental and socioeconomic roles of both mango and non-mango-based agroforestry practitioners were collected. Both key informant interview (KII) and focus group discussions (FGD) were also held. The collected data were analyzed by simple descriptive statistics in SPSS version 24 software. As a result, the interviewed respondents differed significantly (P < 0.05) in terms of agroforestry practices. It was confirmed that the mango-based agroforestry practitioners revealed that the soil fertility enhancement, reduction of crop damage by wind and amelioration of microclimate by shading for crop and livestock were of environmental importance mango-based agroforestry practitioners benefited more than non–mango-based agroforestry practitioners (P < 0.05). Whereas food/fruits, timber, traditional medicine, fuelwood, pole and fodder were socio-economic roles of agroforestry. The mango-based agroforestry practitioners benefited from pole and food more than non-practitioners (P < 0.05). This indicates that the mango-based agroforestry of Abaya-Chamo catchments of the southern Rift valley of Ethiopia has potential for environmental and socio-economic advantages to the society. Elongated experimental research will help to optimize strategies for the management and sustainable utilization of this climate-smart agricultural system.
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