1. Introduction
Ethiopia, situated in the horn of Africa with a
population of 64 million and annual rate of growth of 2.9% (WRI,
2001), is overwhelmingly an agricultural country. Farm products
account for over half the countrys gross domestic product, and 90% of
its exports. The majority of the population is engaged in subsistence
farming. While agriculture is the basis of the economy, productivity
is significantly limited because of severe land degradation.
Reports on forest resources of Ethiopia are
dominated by the alarming deforestation that goes on unabated and at
an accelerating rate. Nationally, the current deforestation rate of
natural forests is estimated at 160,000 - 200,000 ha per annum (EFAP,
1994). Deforestation takes place in both forests and farm woodlands
and it is recognized as the most severe environmental problem in
Ethiopia. The National Conservation Strategy of the Federal Democratic
Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE) identifies deforestation as a major
problem not only in the forest proper, but also as it affects other
sectors such as crops, animal husbandry, water resources, and wildlife
habitat. Ethiopia relies on its diverse biological resources for its
socio-economic development, and these resources are now under severe
pressure.
Ninety-four percent of the Ethiopian population
relies on wood-based and biomass fuel for household energy. Scarcity
of firewood has become acute in many parts of the country causing a
continuous rise in prices, and thus increasing the economic burden on
the household budget. With loans obviously not an option, other measures have been taken to acquire energy. Animal dung and crop residues are increasingly
being used for household fuel rather than being added to the soil to
improve soil fertility, thus further exacerbating the problems of
environmental degradation.
Poverty and natural resources/environmental
degradation are negatively reinforcing; that is, as the land is
degraded, agricultural productivity is lowered, resulting in
decreasing incomes and food security. This in turn leads poor people
from both rural and urban areas to engage in activities that further
degrade the natural resources and environment in order to obtain
supplementary incomes and to sustain a living. As a result, the level
of poverty in Ethiopia also worsens and population increases
exacerbate the problem.
While Agroforestry should not be taken as panacea
for all land use problems in Ethiopia, it may be considered as a
potential alternative to some of the wasteful land-use practices that
exist in the country. According to Raintree (1987) agroforestry is
usually viewed as an unconventional way of raising trees by foresters
and unconventional cropping method by agronomists. Appreciation of the
system comes, however, when we begin to view trees as plants that
promote productivity and we recognize that when trees are grown
together with agricultural crops, forest products can be more
accessible to rural people. Rural Ethiopia cannot afford to put aside
land for either agriculture or forestry alone. Given the unprecedented
population increase, large estates and/or large blocks of plantations
may be soon be a thing of the past. The future holds that both
agricultural and forest products are needed by rural people
simultaneously, not alternatively. There is an urgent need for the
increased diversification of our farmlands. Against this background,
we discuss agroforestry and agroforestry practices within the context
of the circumstances in Ethiopia. The review in this section focuses
on two parts: the first part focuses on defining the concept of
agroforestry along with some of the most common practices of
agroforestry in Ethiopia. The second part briefly describes a
community forestry project conducted as a case study in the Hararghe
Highlands of Ethiopia.
2. Agroforestry Practices in the Ethiopian
Highlands
2.1 Concepts and Definitions of Agroforestry
Agroforestry is a new name for old set of land-use
practices. It is an integrated approach to solving land-use problems
by allowing farmers to produce food, fiber, fodder, and fuel
simultaneously from the same unit of land. A common characteristic
feature of all forms of agroforestry is that a tree component is
deliberately grown or retained in an agricultural setting. Various
definitions for the term agroforestry have been given through the
years since its advent as a scientific approach to land-use problems
in the early 1980s. The best and probably official definition is the
one that is commonly used by the World Agroforestry Center: "Agroforestry
is a collective name for land use systems and technologies where woody
perennials (trees, shrubs, palms, bamboos etc.) are deliberately used
on the same land management units as agricultural crops and/or
animals, in some form of spatial arrangement or temporal sequence. In
agroforestry system there are both ecological and economical
interactions between the different components" (Lundgren and Raintree,
1982).
The concept of agroforestry is based on the
development of the interface between agriculture and forestry. It is a
sustainable multiple-production system whose outputs can be adjusted
to local needs. The main components of agroforestry systems are trees
and shrubs, crops, pasture, and livestock together with the
environmental factors of climate, soil, and landform. Other components
(e.g. bees, fish) occur in specialized systems (Young, 1989). Under
this definition, a variety of combinations of plants may be possible.
But there are two important features that identify agroforestry from
other land-use systems:
●There must be a tree component deliberately grown
or retained in the land use system
●There must be significant interaction, positive
and/ or negative, between the woody
and non-woody components of the system.
Agroforestry, therefore, involves two or more
species of plants and /or animals at least one of which is a woody
perennial and with two or more outputs. Owing to the variety of
mixtures, therefore, even the simplest agroforestry system is more
complex both ecologically and economically than a mono-cropping
system. The aim and rationale of agroforestry lies in optimizing
production based on the interactions between the components and their
physical environment. This will lead to higher sum total and a more
diversified and /or sustainable production than from a monoculture of
agriculture or forestry alone.
Numerous definitions and concepts of agroforestry
are available in the literature. Although the many definitions vary in
some ways, substantive similarities are always there. For further
reference, please see the different agroforestry definitions compiled
by Nair (1989; 1993) in Agroforestry Systems in the Tropics.
2.2 Classification of Agroforestry Systems
The most common set of criteria used to classify
agroforestry systems and practices are (Nair, 1989; 1993):
● Structural basis-- refers to the composition and
arrangement of the components, both spatial and temporal.
● Functional basis-- refers to the main function or
role of the components especially the woody components as for soil
conservation and soil fertility improvement.
● Socioeconomic basis-- refers to the intensity or
scale of management and goals of the system.
● Ecological basis- refers to the environmental and
ecological suitability of systems. There can be separate sets of
agroforestry systems for arid and semi-arid lands or humid and
sub-humid tropics.
All agroforestry systems are characterized by three
basic components namely, the woody perennials (trees/shrubs), the
herbaceous plants (crops, pasture species), and the animals. Based on
these three basic components, agroforestry systems can also be
classified for all practical purposes according to their component
composition (Nair, 1989; 1993):
7 Agrosilvicultural systems
7 Silvopastoral systems
7 Agrosilvopastoral systems.
Other specialized agroforestry systems can also be
defined (for example, apiculture with trees, aquaculture involving
trees and shrubs, and multipurpose-tree lots).
2.2.1. Agrosilvicultural systems
This is an agroforestry system where agronomic
crops are combined with shrubs/trees on the same unit of land for
higher or better-sustained production of annual crops, fodder, and
wood. In any one agroforestry system, there can be more than one
agroforestry practice. An agroforestry system is identified by certain
types of practices that, taken as a whole, form a dominant land-use
system in a particular locality, characterized by environment, plant
species and arrangement, management, and social and economic
functions. Although an agroforestry practice is a distinctive
arrangement of components in space and time, when the combinations are
arranged in time sequence, such practice is called taungya
practice. The combinations can also be arranged in space, such as the
hedgerow/mixed intercropping practice.
2.2.2. Silvopastoral systems
This is an agroforestry system where range crops
and/or animals and trees are combined for better production of grasses
and fodder. This combination can be arranged as a pure stand with
fodder trees/shrubs planted as a protein bank (with cut-and-carry
fodder production) and/or mixed in different configurations such as
living fences of fodder trees and hedges. The trees and shrubs and
grass components are arranged in such a way that their healthy
coexistence is not disrupted. The acacia-dominant system in the arid
parts of Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia are good examples of this
system.
This system can be practiced on both range and
forest lands for the production of both feed and woody materials. This
system could also be practiced on sloping ground by growing grasses
and trees/shrubs together for soil conservation purposes. The main
objective of this practice is to supply feed for livestock during the
dry season with high quality tree leaves and pods. This will
substantially increase the productive capacity of poor and scarce
pasture lands common in the Ethiopian Highlands. Fuelwood and
construction poles can also be produced with this system.
2.2.3. Agrosilvopastoral systems
This is an agroforestry practice by which food,
pasture, and tree/shrub crops are combined on the same unit of land
for the production of grass and browse feed, biomass for fuelwood and
green manure, and food for human consumption.
This system is practiced when the farmer needs all
the benefits that would be obtained from silvipasture and
agrisilviculture systems from a unit of land. Usually, such a system
is practiced on cultivated land. Alternative rows of hedges, grass
strips and/or crops would form such a system, a form of alley
cropping.
Agrosilvopasture is also practiced when the
cropland is constrained by slope and threatened by erosion. These are
very common problems of land use in most of the Ethiopian Highlands;
therefore this system has potential for use in various regions of the
country.
The above definition and discussions of
agroforestry systems and practices encompasses many well-known
land-use systems long practiced in the Ethiopian highlands. Thus, it
is apparent that agroforestry is only a new word for an old practice:
it is based on forestry, agriculture, animal husbandry, land resource management, and other disciplines that all form the systematic
background of land use. Furthermore, it encompasses an awareness of
interactions between humans and the environment and between demand and
available resources in a given area. Although science can improve
agroforestry practices, an important aspect of the problem of Ethiopia
is to mobilize and implement what is already known.
2.3. Some Common Agroforestry Practices in
Ethiopia
The practices included here are just a few among
the countless and diverse agroforestry practices that exist in
Ethiopia; by no means do they represent an exhaustive list of systems
and practices. For in-depth reading of the most common agroforestry
systems in the Ethiopian highlands we refer readers to Hoekstra et al.
(1990). This section will give brief description of the practices we
think are most common in the Ethiopian agricultural landscape. A short
description of each practice is followed by potential use and possible
research needs in Ethiopia.
2.3.1. Scattered trees in croplands
This practice involves the growing of individual
trees and shrubs in wide spaces in croplands. Dispersed trees grown in
farmlands characterize a large part of the Ethiopian agricultural
landscape. Trees would be grown in a scattered form over a crop field,
usually between 1 - 20 trees per hectare to minimize impact on the
companion crop. In such mixed intercropping, lopping and pollarding of
trees would be practiced. Some good examples of this practice include
Cordia Africana intercropping with maize in Bako and
western Ethiopia; Acacia albida-based agroforestry in
the Hararghe Highlands and Debrezeit area (Hoekstra et. al. 1990).
The system has much potential for supplying fodder,
poles, farm equipment, fuelwood, and agricultural improvements (Poschen,
1986; Abebe, 2000). Some possible research needs include soil-plant
interactions; soil fertility and N-fixation studies on wide range of
species; crop-tree yield studies and optimum tree density;
socioeconomic studies; and species selection and screening including
seed tests, establishment, and management.
2.3.2. Home Gardens of the SNNP Region
Home gardens can be found in many parts of southern
and southwestern regions of Ethiopia. Crops such as coffee, enset,
pepper, and numerous kinds of vegetables are dominant components of
the Ethiopian home gardens (Getahun, 1988). Trees like Cordia
Africana, Milletia fruginea, Albezzia gummifera,
Ficus species, and Acacia species are among the
species that form the upper storey of home gardens. The structural
complexity in the Ethiopian home gardens is varied and ranges from
complex and diverse forms containing numerous species and strata, as
in Sidama of the SNNPR, to the less complex forms, with one or two
crop/tree mixtures, as in the Gurage Enset home-compound farms.
Home gardens supply much of the basic needs of the
local population and help reduce the environmental deterioration. The
beauty and quality of the landscapes of Sidama, for example, stand in
stark contrast to the treeless farmlands of much of Ethiopian
agricultural lands. Research on Ethiopian home gardens is at its
infancy, with the exception of a few quantitative and descriptive
studies (Getahun, 1988; Abebe, 2000; Negash et. al., 2002).
Multi-disciplinary biophysical studies including soil-plant
interactions and socioeconomic studies on home gardens is needed for
better understanding and use of these ecologically sound agroforestry
systems.
2.3.3. Hedgerow Intercropping
This form of agroforestry is practiced in many
parts of Ethiopia. The sorghum/maize and chat (Catha edulis)
hedgerow intercropping in the Hararghe Highlands of eastern Ethiopia
is one such example. The shrub chat is a stimulant cash crop that
generates cash for the farmer. Although the soil regenerative
properties of the system are not obvious, it has undoubtedly helped in
the soil conservation of the hilly landscapes of Hararghe (Bishaw and
Abdelkadir, 1989).
Another form of hedgerow intercropping that has
recently been introduced and has been widely tested in the scientific
community is alley cropping. Experiments with alley cropping have been
done at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI),
Ethiopian Forest Research Center, and Alemaya University of
Agriculture, among others (Hoekstra et. al., 1990). Alley cropping is
an agroforestry technology suited to humid and sub-humid tropics and
entails the growing of food crops between hedgerows of planted shrubs
and trees, preferably leguminous species. The hedges are pruned
periodically during the crops growth to provide biomass and enhance
soil nutrient status (Nair, 1989; 1993). There is great potential for
use of the system in Ethiopia, particularly to improve soil and water
conservation in the hilly and mountain ranges for which Ethiopia is
known (Hoekstra et. al., 1990)
Research on interaction at the tree-crop interface,
species screening, and socioeconomic studies are some of the research
areas that are needed to verify and underline the adoptability of the
system to the humid and sub-humid areas of Ethiopia that can support
the system (Bishaw and Abdelkadir, 1989).
2.3.4. Riparian zone vegetation
There are numerous perennial and intermittent
rivers in Ethiopia. Some of these rivers and streams do support large
numbers of species in relatively dense vegetation, which to the
onlooker gives the appearance of a seemingly unbroken canopy cover. A
case in point is the vegetation along the Awash and Eliwoha waterways,
which contains diverse and multi-layered species. The most common
riparian species along these rivers are Acacia tortilis,
A. nilotica, Balanites aegyptica, Tamarindus indica,
Tamarix spp, and Ziziphus spp. The riparian
vegetation is an important source of fodder for livestock during the
dry season, and is a source of food for humans, medicinal plants,
fuelwood, and wood for utensils. It is also home to many bird species
and other wild animals. Pastoral people along the Awash River, for
example, often rely heavily on gathered foods from these forests along
waterways. The riparian woodlands also contain numerous browsable
fodder and shrub species that produce dry-season fodder. The Afar
nomads protect and highly revere these wooded lands. Research needs
include techniques for the establishment of special food and fodder
reserves in riparian areas, selection and screening of riparian
species, management and use of riparian areas, water-harvesting
techniques, and socioeconomic studies.
2.3.5. Enclosures and natural regeneration of
species in woodlands and pasture
The establishment of enclosures will be a realistic
and cheap approach to the improvement of pastoral and degraded
woodlands in Ethiopia. The single most important approach to improve
the woodlands and pastures is to establish enclosures and provide
protection against grazing and tree felling. Once this is done, trees
and grasses will often regenerate quickly and grow without
intervention. Examples of successful enclosures in Ethiopia include
those undertaken by the Tigray Regional Government on a large part of
the inhospitable Tigray Terrains, and enclosures established by Self
Help International (SHI), Ireland, in the dry lands of the Rift Valley
of southern Showa. Wherever enclosures were established, the impact on
regeneration has been substantial. The enclosures were established
with the consent and involvement of the local community. Research
needs include testing the effectiveness of enclosures under various
plant communities, adoption and scaling up, socioeconomic studies,
species selection, natural regeneration and enrichment planting
studies, and water harvesting.
3. Community Forestry Practices in the Ethiopian
Highlands
3.1. Concepts and Definitions of Community Forestry
The term community forestry was defined in 1978 as
"any situation, which immediately involves local people in forestry
activities. It embraces a spectrum of situations ranging from woodlots
in areas which are short of wood and other forest products for local
needs through the growing of trees at farm and community level to
provide cash crops and the processing of forest products at the
household, artisan or small industry level to generate income, to the
activities of forest dwelling communities. The activities so
encompassed are potentially compatible with all types of land
ownership. While it thus provides a partial view of the impact of
forestry on rural development, it does embrace most of the ways in
which forestry and the goods and services of forestry directly affect
the lives of the rural people (FAO, 1978).
Based on the definition above, community forestry
is perceived as encompassing all activities that are carried out by
individual households, farmers as well as activities involving the
community as a whole. These activities are not only limited to tree
planting on farms and households, but also include activities such as
the use and the management of natural resources and the supply or
provision of tree products from the surrounding vegetation. Community
forestry also refers to the promotion of self-help management and use
of trees to sustainably improve the livelihoods of the local people.
The community sector of Ethiopias forestry has
been assigned to strive for meeting the basic needs of the rural as
well as partly the urban population in both fuelwood and construction
poles, including other small-scale timber. Soil and water conservation
through afforestation and land rehabilitation also were outstanding
efforts of the sector. Despite major problems of deforestation and
land degradation, massive soil conservation and afforestation programs
were undertaken in Ethiopia since the early 1970s (Hurni 1990; Gamachu
1990). These programs were undertaken by various agencies of the
government through the assistance of international and bilateral
organizations such as FAO. The Community Forestry Department of the
Ministry of Agriculture was the main government agency involved in the
planning and execution of soil conservation measures and afforestation
programs.
The College of Agriculture (now Alemaya University)
was involved in the Afforestation and Soil Conservation program in the
early 1980s. This project was funded by FAO/UNDP, (TCP/ETH/8904). The
main objectives of the community forestry project were (1) to
establish community woodlots to meet the demands of fuelwood,
construction materials, and fodder from trees planted outside forests;
(2) to promote soil conservation measures to reduce degradation of
soil resources and improve productivity of agricultural lands; (3) to
establish roadside and farm border plantings to serve as wind breaks
and shelter belts, and (4) to reduce the pressure from the remaining
natural forests and to conserve biodiversity (Bishaw 1988; Bishaw and
Uibrig, 1989).
3.2. Materials and Methods
3.2.1. Description of the study area
To undertake the afforestation and soil
conservation program, a representative site in the Haraghe Highlands,
Alemaya Basin, was selected. The Alemaya Basin lies between altitudes
of 1,850 and 2,200 m and has a mean annual rainfall of 850 mm
(500-1,260 mm). It has a mean annual temperature of 7.80C (with an
extreme minimum of 40C) and a mean maximum of 22.90C (with an extreme
maximum of 290C). The annual mean is about 15.80C (Hawando, 1982).
The Legeambo Farmers Producer Cooperative, one of
the project sites, is about 7 km from the town of Alemaya and is
accessible by car. This cooperative has a total land area of 631.5 ha
and had a population of 1, 557 in 1979/1980 (Bishaw, 1988).
3.2.2. Organization and Budget
At the time, the College of Agriculture, with
funding from FAO/UNDP tried to introduce and implement modern
technologies and methods into the rural areas, with special emphasis
on afforestation, soil conservation, and alternative energy sources.
For this project a total of U.S. $35,000, which is 50 percent of the
budget, was offered by FAO/UNDP, the college in the form of technical
assistance and material aid covered the rest.
In addition, the different governmental
organizations from the Hararghe Administrative Region and Alemaya
Sub-district gave full support in organizing the project work. Members
of the Legeambo Cooperatives were actively involved in implementing
the project.
3.2.3. Planning and Implementing the Afforestation
Program
3.2.3.1. Manpower
The staff members of the Forestry Section, in
consultation with an FAO silviculturist, conducted the afforestation
program. Dr. Bishaw, who is the senior author of this paper, was the
team leader for the afforestation program. In addition, 20 students
from the Department of Plant Sciences participated in surveying and
mapping the afforestation site and vegetation cover of the area. Five
permanent employees from the Forestry Section were also involved in
seed collection, nursery preparation, raising seedlings, and in
clearing and preparation of the tree planting site.
3.2.3.2. Selection of Tree Species
To fulfill the objectives of the afforestation
program, the expert group surveyed the project area and recommended
the most adaptable species to provide for immediate needs of the
farmers. Furthermore, the group also tried to identify species having
more than one of the required characteristics for fulfilling the
afforestation objectives. Based on the above criteria, the following
tree species were selected: Acacia cyanophylla Lindl.;
Casuraina equistifolia L.; Cupressus arizonica Greene;
Eucayptus Camaldulensis Dehn; Eucalyptus globulus Labill;
Eucalyptus saligna SM; and Grevillia robusta A. Cunn.
3.2.3.3. The Raising and Care of Seedlings
Seed for afforestation program were collected from
the Alemaya College campus and additional seeds were brought from the
Forestry Research Center in Addis Ababa. Some of the seed were given
pre-sowing treatment such as soaking in hot and cold water to break
dormancy.
The college forest nursery was used to raise the
needed seedlings for the afforestation program. A plastic tube filled
with soil was used so that seedlings would have a ball of earth around
the root system and be supplied with enough soil nutrients and
moisture when transplanted into the field. This is intended to ensure
high survival rate of seedlings when planted out in the field. The
seeds were sown directly into the plastic tubes to reduce
transplanting cost. Two to three seeds were sown per plot and if more
than one germinated the others were removed.
Optimum care, such as watering, mulching, shading,
and weeding, was provided at the nursery to produce healthy and
vigorous seedlings for field planting. Furthermore, hardening and
grading of seedlings was done before field planting. It took 7-12
months, depending on the species, for the seedlings to reach the
required size (25-30 cm) for field planting. Table 1 shows the species
of seedlings raised during the 1979/1980 afforestation program in the
Alemaya Basin.
Table 1: Seedlings raised during the 1979/1980
planting season
| Species |
Number |
Condition |
| Acacia cyanophylla |
10,000 |
Potted |
| Casurainae
euistifolia |
10,000 |
Potted |
| Cupressus arizonica |
5,000 |
Potted |
|
Eucayptuscamaldulensis |
25,000 |
Potted |
|
Eucalyptus globulus |
25,000
|
Potted |
|
Eucalyptus saligna |
10,000 |
Potted |
|
Grevillia robusta |
5,000 |
Potted |
| Total
|
90,000 |
|
Bishaw, 1988
3.2.3.4. Selection and Preparation of planting site
The site selection for the afforestation program
was based on land capability classification of the project area. Land
that is above Class 5 and up to Class 7 was designated for tree
planting. In general, sites that were not used for crop production and
grazing were assigned for tree planting. Farmers did site preparation,
such as clearing and digging holes, with technical advice from the
Forestry Section workers. Different spacing was used for field
planting: 2.5 m x 2.5 m and 1.5 m x 1.5 m.
During field planting, sites were prepared with
different plot sizes from 0.5 to 2 ha. Trees were planted on top of
the hills and inside gullies to control erosion, and on roadsides and
farm borders as windbreaks and shelterbelts. Thus, during the
1979/1980 planting season about 33,000 tree seedlings of different
species were planted on about 20 ha of land.
3.3. Results and Discussions
Even though trees were planted by the million in
different parts of the country, there was no follow-up to determine
whether the seedlings survived or not. But the Forestry team in the
Legeambo afforestation program carried out a study on survival of
seedlings. It is hoped that this information will give some idea of
the adaptability of some of the species to the soil and climatic
conditions of the area. The results of the study are shown in Table 2.
Seven months after the initial planting, a survival study showed a
relatively good rate of survival, 58 percent, as compared to the
national average, which is less than 20 percent (Uibrig 1989; Gamachu
1990).
A management plan for the woodlots was prepared by
Bishaw 1985 however there was no opportunity to initiate trials for
its immediate implementation. The main objective of the management
plan was to expand the afforested area to an extent of
self-sufficiency in fuel wood and pole production. In general,
management of the woodlots was based on sustained yield principles,
thus, recommendations were given on necessary silvicultural
treatments, such as on new afforestation and replacement planting,
cultivation and weeding and intermediate cuttings or thinning.
Moreover, planning for final felling was based on principles of area
regulation (Bishaw, 1985).
Table 2: Survival of six tree species seven months
after planting in Legeambo Farmers Producer Cooperative, Alemaya
Basin.
| Tree Species |
Number of Seedlings planted |
Dead Seedlings % |
Surviving Seedling % |
| Cupressus arizonica |
3,985 |
33
|
67 |
| Casurainae
euistifolia |
3,225 |
46 |
54 |
| Acacia cynophylla |
1,683 |
48
|
52
|
| Eucayptus camaldulensis |
7,731 |
48 |
52
|
|
ucalyptus globulus |
735
|
49
|
51 |
|
E Grevillia robusta |
206 |
29 |
71 |
| Total Mean |
16,565 |
42.2 |
57.8 |
(Bishaw, 1988)
3.4. Conclusions and Recommendations
The active participation of the farmers in the
planning, design and implementation of the afforestation work and
their training in forestry techniques, i.e., on the establishment and
management of woodlots helped guarantee success in the community
forestry projects. The first afforestation, conducted on a relatively
good quality site, enabled the production of harvestable crops within
a short period of time. This was helpful toward convincing farmers of
the benefit of growing trees at the initial stages of a community
forestry program.
Cultivation and weeding is needed at least once
before the onset of the small rains for the newly afforested areas.
This reduced the competition for soil nutrients and moisture and
thereby helped improve growth and survival of seedlings.
One of the many management factors in community
woodlots is that of the intermediate cutting or thinning. Since the
farmers themselves operated most of the community woodlots, their
knowledge of the thinning operation was of primary importance for the
proper utilization of community forests. Selective thinning is
recommended between ages 4 and 6 years to provide a ready supply of
wood to the farmers, to improve the stand quality by removing damaged
and cracked trees, and to regulate intake of light and demands on soil
moisture and nutrients.
Once they reach maturity, trees can be harvested
for fuelwood and construction poles by farmers for household
consumption or sale of products. The monetary value of forest products
and the inputs will help increase understanding of community forestry
as an important sector of the economy.
The establishment of cooperatives provided a good
opportunity for community forestry development at that time. However,
there was a change of government in Ethiopia in 1990/1991, which led
the country from a socialist-oriented to market-oriented system.
During this time of uncertainty, farmers were reluctant to wait and
see what the results of changes in ownership, land use rights, and
tree tenure might be. Instead, they cut all of the trees in the
Alemaya Basin. For future projects, therefore, the land and tree
tenure policy of the country should encourage farmers and should
provide guarantees concerning planting and growing trees on their
land.
Finally, the methodology applied and the experience
gained from community forestry development and soil conservation work
in the Alemaya Basin has been very successful. We recommend that such
demonstration work be applied with some modifications to other parts
of the country to ensure forestry development in Ethiopia.
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