Woody Plant Species Diversity of Homegarden Agroforestry and Its Contribution to House Holds Livelihood the Case of Dendi District West Shewa, Oromia, Ethiopia

Abstract

Compared to other agroforestry systems, the homegarden agroforestry system primarily consists of complicated multi-strata. This study's was conducted with the objective to assess floristic composition of woody plant species found in homegardens agroforestry and how they affect household livelihoods in the Dendi district, West Shewa zone, Oromia, Ethiopia. Purposive sampling technique was employed in order to select kebeles in the district. Selections of homegardens from each kebeles were conducted using a systematic random sampling technique. Woody Plant species inventories were carried out for 48 homegardens from 143 total household sample sizes. All woody plant species was counted and recorded in 10 x 10 m plots. A total of 37 woody plant species belonging to 33 genera and 26 botanical families were recorded in the study homegardens. The most diversified woody plant family represented in the Dendi district was the Fabaceae, which included five species. Rosaceae and Euphorbaiaceae each had three species. Gare Arera and Galesa Koftu kebeles were, respectively, had the largest and lowest abundance of woody plant species. The values of Shannon-Wiener diversity indices for Gare Arera, Dano Ejersa Gibe, Kaba Bareda and Galesa Koftu were 2.6, 2.48, 2.23 and 2.2 respectively. The range of species evenness, which was greater than 0.5 and varied from 0.67 to 0.72, indicated that the distribution of species in the homgardens of Dendi District is more or less similar. Homegarden agroforestry in the Dendi district were classified into 9 functional categories to the households. The result revealed that about 34.4% of woody plant species in homegardens were serving for household‘s cash income generation. Others are accounted for medicine, building or fuel wood, live fence, home materials, spices, stimulants, shade, ornamentals. In addition, it contributes to environmental sustainability. Encourage homegardening agroforestry for plant biodiversity conservation and management as well as for ecological interventions is the main issue.Generally, Homegarden agroforestry systems are conserving several woody species diversity in its system and woody species were more or less similar, among in the study kebeles. Therefore, focus should be given to extension services, management and sustainably use of woody species in homegarden agroforestry.