Incentivizing coffee farmers to engage in sustainable agroforestry practices is increasingly being recognized as a strategy to enhance sustainable coffee production. This study explored farmers’ perceptions of the effectiveness of incentives in promoting stewardship actions for sustainable coffee agroforestry in the Mt. Elgon region of Uganda. A cross-sectional survey using a mixed-methods approach was employed. A random sampling method was used to select 277 farmer households for surveys. Key informant interviews, focus group discussions, and field observations purposively supplemented the data collection. The surveyed households were mainly dependent on farming (94
Traditional homegarden agroforestry systems (HGAFS) in the Gedeo Cultural Landscape, a UNESCO World Heritage Site recognized for its exceptional indigenous multistory agroforestry systems, and renowned as an important reservoir of plant diversity, structural complexity, and ecosystem services provision. However, variation in floristic composition, diversity, vegetation structure and multi-fucnatinallity among and within homegarden types and along altitudinal, spatial, and socioeconomic gradients remains insufficiently understood. This study assessed plant diversity, vegetation structure, and functional characteristics of three HGAFS types—Enset-based, Coffee–Enset, and Coffee–Fruit systems—in Wenago District, southern Ethiopia. Vegetation data were collected from 39 homegardens using a multistage stratified sampling design incorporating agroforestry systems, altitudinal gradients, and horizontal zonation, vegetation stratification and socioeconomic variables. Species diversity indices, Importance Value Index (IVI), Rényi diversity profiles, structural attributes, and generalized linear models were used to evaluate biodiversity patterns and their drivers. A total of 156 plant species belonging to 123 genera and 74 families were recorded, with native species comprising 75
Agroforestry is widely promoted in smallholder farming systems as a means of improving soil conditions, strengthening resilience to rainfall variability, and supporting rural livelihoods. However, households that adopt agroforestry may differ systematically from those that do not. We examine selection into agroforestry adoption and its relationship with crop production value per adult household member among smallholder farmers in Tabora Region, Tanzania. The practices promoted in the study area include planting the nitrogen-fixing tree Gliricidia sepium, pigeonpea–cassava intercropping, or a combination of the two. To account for potentially endogenous selection into adoption, we estimate a Poisson control-function model using household contact with extension agents as the exclusion restriction, complemented by instrumental-variable estimates and a sensitivity analysis. The control-function estimates indicate negative selection into agroforestry adoption: unobserved factors associated with a higher propensity to adopt are negatively related to crop production value in the outcome equation. Under the maintained identifying assumptions, the estimated average treatment effect on adopters is approximately USD 152 per adult household member, while the corresponding instrumental-variable estimate for households whose adoption decisions are affected by extension contact is approximately USD 412. Estimators that account only for observable differences produce estimates that are statistically indistinguishable from zero. The results suggest that agroforestry may be particularly beneficial for smallholders with relatively low counterfactual crop production value.
In West Africa, legume trees are widely used by agro-pastoralists to enhance livestock productivity, yet their potential to mitigate enteric methane (eCH₄) remains insufficiently documented. This study evaluated the effects of supplementing Panicum maximum hay with leaves of Leucaena leucocephala and Gliricidia sepium leaves on feed intake, apparent digestibility, and eCH₄ emissions in Sudanese Fulani zebu bulls (244 ± 24.3 kg). Animals were housed in individual stalls and received daily rations equivalent to 2.5–3.5
Agroforestry is increasingly recognized as a multifunctional approach to sustainable land management, climate adaptation, and biodiversity conservation. However, empirical evidence evaluating agroforestry systems in Southeast Europe and the Balkan mountain landscapes remains limited. This study presents a case study from the Strandzha Mountains (Bulgaria) investigating the capacity of agroforestry systems to enhance ecosystem services, biodiversity conservation, and landscape resilience within a Living Lab framework established under the REFOREST project. A multidisciplinary comparative analysis was conducted across three land-use systems: an agroforestry apiary system, silvopastoral permanent pasture, and conventional rapeseed monoculture. The assessment integrated physicochemical soil quality indicators, biological soil assessment using the QBS-ar index, floristic and phenological surveys (2023–2025), and forage productivity analysis. The agroforestry and silvopastoral systems demonstrated substantially higher ecological quality (65–67/100) than intensive agricultural management (43/100). The apiary system exhibited the highest soil organic matter content (5.3
