Abstract:
The introduction and promotion of agroforestry in Zegie peninsula would not be a new idea
since farmers have been practicing the act of keeping trees together with food crops and/ or
animals on their farms.The major purpose of this study, is to assess traditional agro forestry
practice, socio ecomonic benefits, and constraints in purposively selected rural kebeles of
Zegie peninsula.The study was based on a household survey conducted on 316 households
and the data was gathered using a structured questionnaire.For the accomplishment of the
study four focus group discussionswith model farmers,elders,land committee members,and
female headed householdsand alsothree key informant interviews with kebele experts, forest
conservation task force and watershed committee were held.The responses of sample
households were analyzed using SPSS version 20, and the qualitative data were narrated and
summarized accordingly.Multinomial logit model was employed to estimate the determinants
of the choice of agroforestry practice by the households.The result indicates that eight
agroforestry practicesexist in the study area namely;homegarden (99.7%),coffee based
multistory AFPs (82.6%, live fence (44.6%), boundary planting (16.8%), scattered trees on
crop lands (7.3%),wind breaks (2.5%), fodder bank (1.9%),and trees on pasture (1.3%).From
the total respondents, 315(99.7%)had adoptedagroforestryand 1(0.3%)did not adopt and
involved small businesses/weaving. Some of the benefits were fuelwood (96.2%),
diversify’incomes (86.4%), medicine (80.7%), soil nutrient improvement (76.9%), honey
production (68.4%), and food supply (61.4%).The major constraints of agroforestry practices
identified by households were diseases and pests (99.4%), scarcity of land (71.5%), lack of
marketing access (67.7%),lack of credit facilities (50.9%), and water shortage (46.8%),
inorderofmagnitude.Resultsofthemultinomial logistic regression modelshowedthat six
variables significantlyaffected the choice of agroforestrypractices by households.Size of farm
land,family size,capital,gender,watersource,credit and price of marketinghad an influence on
their decision to choice of plant/not to plant trees.In generaldiseases and Pests that attack
seedlings and even killed them before they matured. For further agroforestry enhancement,
diseases, pests, droughts resistance, andimproved species should be required. Moreover
appropriate policy and credit facilities should be established.