The impact of Agroforestry on the livelihood of rural farming households: a case study of selected communities of Offinso, Afigya Sekyere and Atwima Districts

This study was to evaluate the impact of agroforestry on the livelihood of rural farming households, in selected communities of Offinso, Afigya Sekyere and Atwima Districts. Ten rural communities namely, Nyamebekyere (Kwadwo Forjourkrom), Abofour, Kyebi, Kona, Tano Odumasi, Adankwame, Esaso, Kumi, Maban and Barekese, were selected for the study. The specific objectives involved the identification of the socio-economic characteristics of the farmers, description of the land use systems, determination of the existing problems of agroforestry adoption in the study area and the determination of the impact of agroforestry on the livelihood of rural farming households. In this study 70-agroforestry practitioners, 20 non-agroforestry practitioners (to serve as control) and officers of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Ministry of Lands, Forestry and Mines, Community/Development office in the Districts were contacted. Both structured and unstructured interview questionnaires were used to obtain information from individual farmers in the households, Foresters and Extension agents/Agricultural Officers, Community/Development Planning Officers. Data collected were described statistically and the responses given by the farmers were tabulated. The study revealed a high level of literacy rate among agroforestry practitioners, which is likely to increase technical efficiency and decrease conservatism. A greater proportion of agroforestry practitioners (63%) used family labour plus hired labour since the tending of both tree crops and food crops influenced the labour requirements. It was found that family labour was negatively related to adoption while hired labour was positively related to adoption. Age and education were negatively related to sources of labour. Age and sex were significantly related to sources of labour. Many agroforestry techniques require intensive labour use, which contrast greatly with the limited amount of labour expended in the traditional farming system and that small-holder farmers must hire expensive labour to implement the technologies. Also, it can be said that as the farmer ages his/her ability to provide labour physically decreases and therefore resort to hired labour. The study shows that most of the agroforestry practitioners finance their farming activities from their personal savings. The dominant energy type in the rural household was fuelwood. The study revealed that practitioners of agroforestry in the study area have been obtaining increased income levels, improved upon the household food security, a greater proportion are to a larger extent able to afford fees and learning materials for their children and wards, clothes and medical treatment for individuals in the household after adoption of agroforestry. About a third of practitioners have succeeded in building their own houses from the sales of the tree crops/products and food crops. Others have succeeded in buying building plots in Kumasi. The economic, legal and political arrangement governing the ownership and management of agricultural land in the study area should be restructured. To achieve success, government should institute land tenure policies, which provide farmers access and permanent rights to land. This would reduce the problems associated with land ownership, acquisition and utilization. Gender sensitivity, to a large extent has enormous influence on agroforestry adoption, with the females being in the minority. Mechanisms should therefore be put in place to plan a sustainable education programme for women on agroforestry practices and also give support to women organizations interested in agroforestry.

Source: KNUST