Abstract:

Agroforestry is rapidly gaining interest of many farmers in Uganda and it is widely thought that it can make a significant contribution towards addressing the high levels of poverty and associated land degradation in the country. For this to happen, however there is need to promote agroforestry technologies and innovations that farmers can invest in and that in turn generate incomes. This study therefore, presents an inventory of agroforestry technologies/practices in Uganda and prioritises these technologies/practices according to Association of Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA) criteria and TOFNET (Trees on Farm Network of ASARECA) different problems domain areas in Uganda. The inventory involved the use of structured questionnaires administered to various agroforestry stakeholders. Sixty organizations were surveyed comprising NGOs, CBOs, District extension departments, research and training institutions from 11 districts of Uganda (Iganga, Kabale, Kampala, Kisoro, Kumi, Mbale, Mbarara, Mukono, Ntungamo, Wakiso and Soroti). Validation and prioritization of the agroforestry technologies/practices were conducted in a stakeholders’ workshop. Twenty-one agroforestry technologies/practices were documented ranging from apiculture, aquaforestry, biomass transfer, to homegardens and woodlots. High value fruit tree orchards, home gardens, woodlots, trees on cropland, contour hedges, improved fallowing, relay and rotational cropping, fodder banks, apiary systems, ornamental/avenue planting, trees on hillsides were the top ten highly scored technologies according to ASARECA criteria. According to TOFNET criteria, most of the technologies were spread in nearly all the problem domain areas (Lake Victoria and associated river basins, humid highlands, marginal areas, buffer zones and urban/peri-urban) of Uganda. This therefore, calls for the need to promote diversified agroforestry technologies/practices, which might be the best option to reduce risks and satisfy farmers’ wants directly from the land resources under their management.