Evaluating the level of adoption of improved agrosilvopastoral technologies, factors affecting adoption and establishing the species and systems adopted among smallholder farmers of Buhera and Mutasa Districts of Manicaland Province, Zimbabwe

Two thirds of the rural populations in most coun tries of Sub-Saharan Africa subsist on less than US$1 a day. The farmers’ economies have weak linkages to the markets and they have little or no access to external inputs. The increasing cost of inputs and high transport costs make external inputs unaffordable for the smallholder farmer (Spe ncer, 2002). Inorganic ferti lizer use has declined to 8kg/ha (NEPAD, 2006). Smallholder farmers cannot afford stock feeds for supplementing limited and poor quality pasture during the dry and cold season. La nd degradation and siltation are an environmental concern that also reduces yields (Rattsø, 1996). Crop and livestock yields are low and declining. Countries like Zimbabwe, Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique and Botswana are affected and as a result, food insecure (Bohringer, 2002). Some agroforestry technologies have been shown to improve the soil and animal fodder availability (Dzowela, 1994; Govere, 2003). Agroforestry can improve crop and livestock production by providing relatively less costly, more affordable and locally available inputs for fodder and soil amendments to the smallholder farmer. G overnment departments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) like World Agroforestry Cen tre (WAC) are scaling up agroforestry through training and distributing germplasm to the smallholder farmers in the region. Not much has been done on assessment of adoption and factors that affect adoption of agroforestry in different geographical areas and agricultural sectors in Zimbabwe. Improved agroforestry was introduced by WAC to Buhera district in 2002 and in Mutasa district, since 2005. Assessment of adoption of agroforestry in these districts has not been done. The objectives of this study are, therefore, to establish (1) the level of adoption of the techno logies among trained and non trained small holder farmers in the two districts, (2) the factors that affect adoption of the technologies and (3) the species and systems that are adopted in various agrosilvopastoral systems in the two districts.

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