Assessing farmers’ adoption of agro forestry on customary land

Abstract

This work was conducted to assess the farmer‟s adoption of agro forestry on customary land a case of Orom Sub-County-Kitgum District. Agro forestry is a major sustainable land use that can deliver multiple contributions to the alleviation of climate change, income and food security, reduce land boundary disputes, sources fodder for animals feeds, control soil erosion and non-point pollution, soil fertility improvement and water retention to the soils. Ugandan farmers who are exposed to threat of enhancing productivity of their farmland with the majority being customary land owner. Besides all the pleasant benefits, agro forestry adoption remains low. Based on a critical approach and grounded concept, the study was undertaken on the following objectives; to establish socioeconomic and biophysical factors that influence farmers‟ adoption of agroforestry technologies on customary land; identify various partners promoting agro forestry on a customary land; and documentation of various agro forestry practices/technologies on customary land in the study area. A mixed research design involving qualitative and quantitative approaches was employed. The non random sampling technique combining cluster and purposive sampling was used whereby 147 households/farmers were selected for questionnaire interviews. The Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) tools (historical profile, transect walk, resource map and seasonal calendar) were used to facilitate observational data collection. Document review especially review of academic journals was also a method of data collection used in the study. Further, Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) were employed to collect additional qualitative data from respondents. The quantitative data collected were analyzed using SPSS and presented inform of charts and frequency tables. The univariate and bivariate analysis were employed for this research. The study‟s key findings on the influence of socioeconomic and biophysical factors on adoption of agro forestry on customary land were as follows: sex of the HH head has no influence on adoption of agro forestry technology; marital status has little bearing on adoption of agro forestry technology/practice; respondents in the median age group registered more participation in agro forestry adoption than older/younger ones; education was noted as having a positive influence on the adoption of agro forestry in the study area; earning higher income and the need to earn higher income were found to positively affect