Contemporary Trends in Farmer-Based Tree Management and Implications for Agroforestry Promotion in Southeastern Nigeria

Abstract

This paper examines the contemporary trends in tree growing and management in the context of changing farmer livelihood systems in southeastern Nigeria. Data were collected in 1998-99 through a field survey involving interviews with 160 households drawn from 8 rural communities across the different agroecological and population pressure zones in southeastern Nigeria. It was observed that the social and economic roles of trees in farmer livelihood systems have transformed over the years from a passive to an active state. Trees played more prominent and critical roles as an integral component of household livelihood strategies towards food security, cash management, income security and subsistence supplies. The driving forces behind changing roles of trees include tree product market dynamics, technological change, greater individualisation of land tenure, increased pressure on resources and market penetration in the rural economy. Farmers were found to be responding to the changing contexts of tree management by intensification of tree management in natural woodlands or forests, increased tree integration into croplands and home-gardens, changes in the differentiation of tree management preferences between men and women and greater individualization of tree ownership and management. The findings underscore the need for interventions to support local management of trees by rural farming households in the areas of tree product market development, agroforestry promotion, farmer access to extension, tree production inputs and technologies.


[IJARD Vol.3 2002: 54-63]