Abstract:
A survey targeting smallholder households was carried out in
Mumbuni and N
dovoini sub
-
locations
in
the
semi arid
Makueni County
, Kenya,
to
identify agroforestry types and practi
ces and their level of
adoption
and
socio
-
economic
factors influencing adoption of agroforestry
.
The study involved
a survey
of
234
ho
u
sehold
s
using a st
ructured questionnaire.
The collected data
was subjected to descriptive
statistical analysis and binary logistic regression model
.
Results obtained revealed that more than 90%
of the households practised agroforestry. It was also observed that significantl
y (P<0.01) more
agroforestry trees in overall were planted at Mumbuni (40 trees/acre) than at Ndovoini (9 trees/acre).
Agroforestry
annually contributed 41
and 17% of farm
-
based income in Mumbuni and Ndovoini,
respectively.
Adoption of agroforestry was sig
nificantly influenced by the size of the household, mode
of acquisition of land, security of land tenure, size of landholding, gender and the level of education
of
the head household
.
Adoption of sustainable agroforestry practices was low
in both sites. Th
ere were
50 to
58% of households with fruit trees dispersed on crop land; the other practices on fruits were
poorly being carried out (<20%). The highest practices on forest wood trees were
homestead planting
(Mumbuni 40.2% and Ndovoini 70.1%); the rest we
re poorly adopted (<25%). Agroforestry practices on
fodder were least adopted (<16%).
