Investigation of survival rate of trees planted in agroforestry and forest plantations in HuyeDistrict from 2007 to 2011 and underlying factors

Abstract

This study was conducted in Huye District from December 2011 to June 2012, with aiming to investigate the survival rate of trees planted on private and public land from 2007-2011 and underlying factors. Low survival rate of trees planted during annual planting campaigns is often reported in many parts of the country and there is need to understand why and propose adequate solutions to improve survival rate of trees in plantation. The study was conducted in three sectors of Huye District namely Mukura, Tumba and Ngoma sectors. Data were collected through a structured questionnaire that was administered to 51 sample farmers as well as through actual counts conducted both on private and public trees and forest plantations. The collected data were analysed and presented using SPSS and Microsoft Excel softwares. The results of the study revealed that, in the study area, the majority of trees fail to survive after the tree planting season generally due to lack or poor post-planting care. Thirty nine percent of respondents reported to have not provided any post-planting care to their trees. Nevertheless, 35% of respondents reported to have weeded their trees during the studied period. In addition, the results indicate that private trees survive better than public ones. The mean survival rate computed on a sample of agroforestry private trees was 51% while on public trees it was 30%. In woodlots and forest plantations, private trees survived at 65% while the public ones survived at 40%. This study should be carried out in other parts of the country in order to identify underlying factors behind low survival rate of trees after each tree planting season.

Keywords: Deforestation, reforestation, tree survival rate, tree planting seasoning, physical count of trees.