Abstract. Hemida M, Mulyana B, Vityi A. 2022. Determinant of farmers’ participation and biodiversity status in the program of agroforestry rehabilitation in Sudan. Biodiversitas 23: 5638-5645. The agroforestry Rehabilitation Program (ARP) was launched in Nabag Reserve Forest (NRF), Sudan, to rehabilitate the forest cover and improve livelihoods for communities around the forest. To enhance the efficacy of such rehabilitation programs, it is crucial to understand the impact of various factors on community perception of participation in forest rehabilitation. The objectives of this study were to (i) examine the factors that influence farmers’ perceptions of their involvement in the program and (ii) assess the biodiversity of trees and crop species in the program. Data was gathered through a survey that included personal interviews with 200 farmers who participated in the program. A total of 250 circular sample plots were established randomly to achieve the second objective. The results showed that extension services, farming experience, family members, educational level, land size, and gum Arabic production positively influence farmers’ perceptions. The study findings identified nine tree species and five crop species in NRF. The dominant tree species were Acacia senegal and Balanites aegyptiaca which represented 62.8% and 12.4 % of the total species, respectively. At the same time, groundnut and watermelon were identified as favorite crops cultivated by farmers. Furthermore, the non-rehabilitated area has shown better value in richness, heterogeneity, and evenness than the rehabilitated areas.
Empirical evidence of Taungya agroforestry program in Sudan was generated. The objectives were to examine the association between socio-economic characteristics of farmers and Tuangya practice, assess the program’s contribution to farmers' income, and highlight farmers’ major incentives and constraints. The purposive sampling technique was applied targeting 200 Taungya farmers. Data were collected using questionnaires, focus group discussions, key informant interviews, direct field observations, and document reviews. Descriptive statistics, the chi-square test, and a paired sample t-test were used to analyze the data. Study results showed that 77% of farmers were male, with an average age of 41 years. About 77% of farmers cultivate an average land area of 3.5 hectares. The chi-square result showed that socio-economic characteristics such as marital status, age, family size, year of participation, and educational level had a significant association with Taungya practice, while gender, main occupation, and land size had no significant association. The study revealed that Taungya agroforestry program contributed significantly to farmers’ income. Evidence of that was the sharp reduction in mean annual costs from SDG 32,851.75 to SDG 25,107.50, and a substantial increase in the mean annual net incomes of the farmers from SDG 35,298.52 to SDG 91,839.50 before and after participation, respectively. Farmers’ participation was encouraged by the high productivity within the forest and access to free fertile land. Contrary, lack of extension services and supervision from Forest National Corporation, overgrazing and crop destruction, land size limitation, and crop species restrictions were identified as major challenges. The study suggests that prioritizing extension services, providing live fencing, and reconsidering farmers’ interest in having intercropping sorghum on their farms to improve their sustenance will overcome the constraints and further boost farmers' productivity.
The decline of the forest cover due to deforestation and agricultural expansion in Sudan has reached a critical situation. Taungya agroforestry systems have been used as a strategy to safeguard against this process, allowing farmers to cultivate their subsistence crops at the early stage of tree plantations. The current study research tackled Nabag Forest Reserve (NFR) as a case study to assess and explore <em>Taungya</em> agroforestry system as a practice used for forest rehabilitation in the study area. Satellite images of Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper, and Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager/Thermal Infrared Sensor of 1991, 2001, 2011, and 2021 were used to generate forest cover maps. Both unsupervised and supervised classification, as well as ground truth points, were applied to classify the vegetation cover in NFR as dense forest (DF), light forest (LF), agricultural field (AF), and bare land (BL). The results showed that two trends of forest cover changes occurred in NFR between 1991-2001 and 2011-2021. It was well explored that through <em>Taungya </em>agroforestry, there was a considerable increase in forest cover over this period. This could be clearly detected by increasing dense forest and light forest cover by 1041.73 ha (24.95%) and 2.95 ha (0.07%), respectively and decreasing of bare land and agricultural field by 409.79 ha (9.81%) and 634.52 ha (15.15%) during the addressed period. The findings of the study indicated that <em>Taungya</em> agroforestry system could be a feasible land-use alternative for forest recovery in the dry land of Sudan.
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