Assessing the benefits of agroforestry beyond food security among households in Isingiro District, South-Western Uganda

Abstract

Globally, agroforestry and its capacity to offer a high yielding system are well known as a pathway for providing multiple benefits of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to the households. In Uganda, household farmers adopt on-farm trees for various benefits such as soil erosion prevention, maintaining soil fertility, provision of shade, windbreaks, and climate regulation among others beyond food security. The study aimed at assessing the benefits of agroforestry beyond food security in Isingiro District. The study used a cross-sectional survey design to obtain qualitative and quantitative data. The number of household participants was 284. Multiple Linear Regression to analyse the association between dependent variable and numerous independent variables were employed. The study used Chi-Square tests to find out the statistical value of variables and their effect on agroforestry adoption. The study also used Multiple Regression Model to determine the degree to which selected variables were accountable for influencing agroforestry benefits beyond food security. The results indicated that 41% households in Kabaare, 37.0% in Kikokwa, and 22.0% in Kigyendwa practiced agroforestry. These percentages mean that agroforestry adoption is below the average (50%). The low adoption is attributed to factors such as land shortage, limited financial capacity, poor attitudes and perceptions. Of all the agroforestry adopters, only 21% of the households indicated that they had benefited from on-farm trees. This implies that majority 79% of those who did not practice agroforestry realized no benefits. The socio-economic factors that were positive and insignificant with a positive influence on household agroforestry benefits were the main occupation and income (0.001) while the family size and land size (0.288), land acreage used for food production and household size (0.553), land acreage and marital status (0.182) were insignificant. The study recommends intensive studies on household attitude, and perceptions about agroforestry practice in relation to other factors. The local government needs to review land policy, and strengthen its support to households in utilising their resources productively through on-farm tree adoption to attain diversified benefits.