An Inventory of Agroforestry Practices in Butta Sub-County, Manafwa District, Uganda

Background: Agroforestry is being regarded as an effective, low-cost means of minimizing the degradation of cultivated land and of maintaining or even increasing the productive capacity of agricultural ecosystems.

Aim of the Study: This study aimed to develop an inventory of agroforestry practices and constraints among small-scale farmers in Butta sub-county, Manafwa district in Uganda.

Methodology: The study was conducted with the heads of household selected using a combination of multistage stratified random sampling and systematic random sampling. The study population of this research involved two categories of respondents that are the household and extension officers from the sub-county. The quantitative data collected from the household heads were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 20.0 and Microsoft office excel 2013. Descriptive analysis was conducted to estimate frequencies and percentages of the responses. Friedman test was conducted to identify the most critical constraints associated with agroforestry adoption.

Results: Five practices were identified and these range from Boundary marking, live fences, hedges, woodlots to Home gardens. The most significant constraint was Pest and diseases with mean rank 1.24 followed by fire outbreak, Lack of labor, Drought, Shortage of land, and lack of seedlings and Theft with mean rank of 1.32, 2.11, 2.41, 2.53 and 3.11 respectively.

Conclusion: Boundary planting is the most widely adopted practice while woodlots were the least. Wives and children are the main farm labor providers and therefore farm labor is often available when the children are on holiday since most of them attend boarding schools.