Assessing Agroforestry Species, Practices, Uses, and Tree Diversity in Two Contrasting Agro-Ecological Zones of Rwanda

Abstract

The study aimed at comparing the Bugarama and Busogo sectors (Rwanda) in terms of on-farm woody species, agroforestry practices, uses, and tree diversity. Data were collected from the two sectors through household interviews, direct observations, and measurements. A random sample of 200 households, 100 per sector, was investigated. Names and the number of individuals per species were recorded. Only two woody species occurred in both sites, four were exclusively found in Bugarama and seven in Busogo. About 56% and 21% of respondents in Bugarama and Busogo, respectively, did not practice agroforestry. Three on-farm tree spatial arrangements were identified in both sites, while two were exclusively observed in the Busogo sector. Five uses of on-farm trees were found to be the most important and common to both sites. Although Busogo showed higher woody species diversity than Bugarama, both sites were similar in terms of on-farm woody species, their planting arrangement, and uses. In total, seven uses were identified in both areas, and each site had one use exclusively mentioned: medicinal for Bugarama and stakes for climbing beans for Busogo sites. Being wetter and more fertile, the number of trees in the Busogo site was about 1.6 times higher than that of Bugarama. The indices of diversity were 1.333 for Busogo and 1.198 for Bugarama, while the similarity was reasonably low (0.363). The reported limited number of agroforestry woody species does not hold in this study since their number varied significantly across the study sites.