Abstract:
ABSTRACT
Despite widespread reports concerning the role of agroforestry in rural livelihood,
sustainable development, environmental protection, and recently in climate change
mitigation and adaptation, not much is known about rural households’ perception of the
different benefits of agroforestry and the status of adoption of the different technologies. This
study was conducted to address farmers’ perception and adoption of agroforestry practices
and their determinants in Banja district, Amhara regional state, Northwestern, Ethiopia. A
cross-sectional research design was applied in three Kebeles of Banja district involving 340
sample households. The study employed mixed-method research, where both quantitative and
qualitative approaches were applied. Multi-stage sampling techniques were employed to
select the district, Kebeles, and sample households. Descriptive statistics and the binary logit
model were used to analyze the data. The finding show that more than half (58.82%) of the
respondents have perceived agroforestry as an advantageous practice in the study area while
the remaining 41.18% of the respondents did not. The result from descriptive statistics on
farmers' perceptions about the benefits of agroforestry practices indicated that 91.57%, 75%,
and 60.5% of the respondents perceived that agroforestry could increases farm productivity,
household income, enhance food security, respectively.moreover189(56%) of the respondents
had adopted different agroforestry practices. Of those live fences (95.2%) was mostly
adopted by household, while, 50.8% adopted taungya. The result indicated that the
proportion of adopters of agroforestry practices was higher than non-adopters (56%). The
binary logit model revealed that the adoption of agroforestry practices was determined by
sex, educational status, extension services, family size and farmland size whereas the
remaining variables (age, home to farmland distance, land tenure issues, total livestock size,
farm experience and distance from the market) were not significant in determining the
adoption of agroforestry practices. Therefore, efforts are expected from the concerned bodies
to enhance the adoption of agroforestry in the study area.