Distribution and regeneration status of cordia africana (lam.) tree in agroforestry practices along agroecology and farmers' wealth status in sidama zone southern ethiopia

Abstract

Cordia africana (Lam.) is one of the indigenous multipurpose tree species which is being endangered and suffering a lot from overexploitation. Nowadays agroforestry is taken as potential ecosystem for counteracting extinction of this tree through providing complementary habitat in Ethiopia. Therefore, this study aimed to identify distribution and regeneration status of Cordia africana tree in agroforestry practices with respect to agroecologies and farmers wealth status. Selection of respondents was done based on the wealth status of households for tree inventory. The total households were categorized into three main wealth categories as wealthy, medium and poor. Accordingly, 72 households were selected by taking three households randomly across wealth categories from eight different villages. Then, tree inventory was done from three different agroforestry practices in each 72 households with big plot size of 20mx20m and 5mx5m nested subplots. The results of the study revealed that mean stems of trees were significantly higher (p<0.05) in enset- tree based agroforestry practice followed by coffee-tree based practice in two agroecological setting. The study also found that the number of stems per plot and per hectare was significantly higher (p=0.0001) in midland agroecology than lowland agroecology. The results also showed that the mean stems of trees were significantly higher (p<0.05) from rich wealth classes in two agroecological settings. There is also significant variation of regeneration status of Cordia africana tree with respected to agroecology and different agroforestry practices. Finally, the study suggests that regeneration status of Cordia africana tree should be assisted and facilitated for the sustainability of this valuable tree species.