The role of Faidherbia albida land use for poverty alleviation in drylands of Ethiopia

1. AA low density AA high density AL AL The role of Faidherbia albida land use for poverty alleviation in drylands of Ethiopia kiros M. Hadgu1, Lammert Kooistra2, Walter A.H. Rossing3, Ariena H.C. van Bruggen3 1Faculty of Dryland Agriculture and Natural Resources, Mekelle University, P.O.Box 3097, Mekelle, Tigray, Ethiopia 2Geo-Information and Remote Sensing, Department of Environmental Sciences, Wageningen University, Droevendaalsesteeg 3, 6708 PB Wageningen, the Netherlands 3Biological Farming Systems, Department of Plant Sciences, Marijkeweg 22, 6709 PG Wageningen, the Netherlands 1. Introduction Ensuring food security while minimizing environmental degradation (e.g., through promoting agroforestry land uses) are very important to reduce poverty and mitigate climate change especially in developing countries like Ethiopia where food insecurity is most acute , particularly in rural areas where 85% of the total population directly depend on agriculture. 4. Results Higher barley yield close to F.albida tree. • Higher soil fertility close to F. albida: • Total N (%), • Available P (mg.kg-1), • Soil Moisture (%), & • Soil Organic Matter (%) were significantly (P<0.05) higher close to F. albida tree than further away from F. albida tree. 2. Objectives To investigate implications of the changes intraditional F. albida based land use systems on soil fertility and crop productivity (barley yield) at field and regional scales in Tigray, northern Ethiopia. Figure 3. Mean (±SE) barley yield (kg.ha-1) at increasing distance from the centre of an Faidherbia albida trunk and for three land use system. Figure 4. Relation between barley yield (Class 1 < 500 kg.ha-1, Class 2: 500-1000 kg.ha-1 and Class 3 > 1000 kg.ha-1) and inorganic fertilizer: no fertilizer (NF): 0 kg N.ha-1, low fertilizer (LF): 1-25 kg N.ha-1, high fertilizer (HF): >25 kg N.ha-1), F. albida density: low F. albida density (LA), medium F. albida density (MA). and high F. albida density (HA). farm-1. Medium barley yield at high inorganic fertilizer use 3.Materials and Methods High barley yield at high F. albida density Low barley yield at low F. albida density Figure 1. Scattered F. albida trees in farmlands: a typical farming system in Tigray, northern Ethiopia. At field scale: Soil and barley samples were collected at 1, 25 and 50 metres from a trunk of a solitary F.albida tree within each of 77 fields. At regional scale: barley yield was estimated from 81 farms with different density of F. albida. Figure 5. Relation between agricultural land use types and F. albida land use system Figure 6. Added ecosystem service of increasing F.albida tree density on barley yield at farm level where E1, E2 and E3 refer to increasing barley yield levels for three spatial density configurations of F. albida on the corner, edge and within an agricultural fields, respectively. Figue 2. Different Faidherbia albida land uses in Tigray, northern Ethiopia with F.albida alone (AA), F.albida and livestock (AL) and F.albida and Eucalyptus (AE). 5. Conclusion: Increased barley yield and soil fertility at closer distance from F. albida trunk. The study also demonstrated higher ecosystem service, in terms of barley yield, rendered by having high density of F. albida trees within a field than only at the edge or corner of a field. This study suggests food security can be ensured by increasing productivity of crops and soils based on appropriate use of local agroforestry resources such as F. albida trees. Acknowledgement The authors would like to thank an International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA)-Lukas Brader Fellowship and a Netherlands Fellowship Programme (NUFFIC) for providing financial support to carry out the research. We thank Dr Lukas Brader for his follow ups and encouragements. We are also very grateful to ICARF, particularly to Dr. Dennis Garrity and Dr. Frank Place, for sponsoring to the 2nd World Congress of Agroforestry (WCA).