Managing fragile homestead trees to improve livelihoods of land-poor farmers in the Northern Highlands of Ethiopia

Tree planting around homesteads has been a long tradition in Ethiopia. We assessed the management practice and benefits of homestead plantations with data gathered from questionnaires, narrative walks, focus group discussions and interviews with 120 randomly selected households. Descriptive statistics used to compute benefits of homestead plantation show that homestead plantations are important for providing food, medicine, fodder, income and ecological services. Using regression analysis to capture the variables influencing tree management, we found that indigenous trees made up 84 per cent of the tree species in the homesteads because of their cultural associations, socio-economic functions and environmental services. Male-headed households, large family sizes and homestead sizes, and older homesteads were positively associated with the likelihood of keeping trees in the homesteads. Proper management of neglected trees can reinforce the resilience of rural poor in the face of food insecurity, poverty and climate change; therefore we recommend that future development strategies increase local knowledge, grass-root level initiatives and preferred tree species to improve livelihoods of land-poor farmers