Impact Assessment of Agroforestry Practices on Community Socio-Economic Livelihoods in Rwanda

Cropland agroforestry system provides enough food, timber, fodder, fruit, fuel wood, construction materials, raw materials and other products for forest-based small-scale enterprises and other cottage industries. Trees in crop fields work as insurance incase of sudden crop failure or to support crops against environmental hazards and also to provide extra income from trees. Moreover, if there is a failure in one crop, the other crops would supplement the deficit. Therefore, cropland agroforestry is largely evolved with sustainability concerns, resiliency and diversity (Maduka 2007; Chakraborty et al. 2015; Islam et al. 2012). There is a range of practices that can be used for agroforestry, some of which have been employed for thousands of years. Such methods include alley cropping (planting single rows of trees and growing crops in the alleyways in between), silvopasture (combining trees with pasture or livestock grazing areas), forest farming (the cultivation of shade-tolerant crops under the protection of a managed forest), and others (TURGUT 2019; Enete and Amusa 2010). Integrating trees in agricultural systems can certainly be complex and might be difficult to implement in various situations, and there is no one model that works for every region, but the benefits are significant. Overall, incorporating trees introduces more species in usually one or few species systems. And this in turn, has been shown to increase the crop productivity, improve nutrient cycling, create and change microclimate (Ospina 2017; TURGUT 2019). Some countries have heeded the call and are employing agroforestry technology as a strategy to rehabilitate degraded forestlands, avoiding “slash and-burn” farming, reducing soil erosion, improving soil quality, enhancing vegetation cover, and improving the living standards of forest-dependent communities (Bugayong 2003; Glover et al. 2013). Agroforestry can help to improve the livelihoods of the rural poor by producing food (e.g. fruit, nuts, edible leaves, sap and honey), fodder, timber, wood fuel, fibers and medicines. The adoption of agroforestry can save time in the harvesting of fodder and wood fuel, a particularly important benefit for women (Hillbrand 2017). According to the study conducted in Orlando, Florida, USA, trees also provide farmers with supplementary socio-economic benefits (fruit for food, firewood, medicines, forages, etc.) (El-Lakany 2004b; El-Lakany 2004a).

The Rwandan 3rd Integrated Household Living Conditions Survey (EICV3) reported that in Karongi district, 77.7% of households own less than 0.99 ha of land, among them 36.7% own less than 0.2 ha, and only 22.3% own more than 1 ha (Nahayo et al. 2016; Nabahungu and Visser 2011). A higher proportion of farmers cultivating larger areas would create an enabling environment for agriculture production increase. The proportion of households cultivating the smallest areas, i.e. below 0.3 ha land, represents 37.4% in Karongi District. This is slightly lower than the average national level (46%). The mean size of land cultivated per household in Karongi District is 0.5 ha, which is slightly higher than the national average (0.59ha) (Karongi 2018).Sometimes, it is argued that small farms in terms of land size are more productive than large farms and it is further recommended that agricultural development strategies need to be based on the backing of small rather than large farms. In addition to this, the small farm biased agricultural development strategy simultaneously can help to overcome both growth and income distribution objectives (H.Freeman 2005; Ellis 2008).

The conversion of forestlands to agricultural lands in the region is rapidly increasing, which is reducing forest cover. However, in Rwanda, the adoption of agroforestry techniques to avoid rampant deforestation has not been simple in the country due to the existing challenges such as low literacy rate, insufficient credit facilities, absence of farm inputs, and other sociocultural issues (MINAGRI 2006). In such circumstances, traditional land use patterns should be converted into sustainable land use, which will permit maintenance of productivity combined with conservation of the resources. Agroforestry; a land based production system that is directly related to food security, employment, income opportunities and environmental issues plays a vital role in rural socio-economic development as well as poverty reduction (Maduka 2007; Chakraborty et al. 2015; Islam et al. 2012). Karongi District faces the problem of soil degradation, including soil infertility, soil erosion, deforestation, shortage of farmlands, land sliding. These are associated with other environmental concerns mainly in agriculture, urbanisation, infrastructure development and energy (Karongi 2018).Hence, agroforestry practices would be the best land-use system for sustainable livelihood in Karongi District to cope with the above challenges. Therefore, it is good to analyze the extent to which agroforestry practices contribute to the advancement of social and economic livelihood of the local community. Hence, this study is conducted in Karongi Districtin order to assess the socio-economic impact of agroforestry practices on farmers‟ livelihood. The results derived from the current study will serve as guide to decision makers on how agroforestry practices contribute to rural community socio-economic livelihoods improvement.