Abstract:
The practice of agroforestry can be much beneficial in the African communities where there are harsh
environmental conditions, low technologies of agricultural production, fragmented land tenure system, unreliable livelihoods
and chronic food insecurity. This paper is an outcome of a descriptive survey study that was conducted in Nambale division,
Busia County in Kenya, which partly examined the factors influencing adoption of agroforestry practices among rural
households. The adoption of agroforestry has not been very successful due to land ownership and land rights aspects that
have adversely affected its adoption to the larger extent. In Kenya, land ownership remains exceedingly skewed in many rural
parts of the country. The authors argue that when land ownership is extremely unequal, agroforestry activities and its growth
delivers fewer paybacks for the poor rural households. Land tenure problems have been exacerbated by continuous
fragmentation of land, land inheritance, gender imbalance in land ownership and the rights to land use. The paper concludes
that the decision to adopt agroforestry was partly influenced by land and tree tenure, size of land and gender equity
(women’s rights to property and recognition of co-ownership). Additionally, rural households’ investments in agroforestry
increase with increasing in land tenure. The important policy recommendation made is that laws affecting adoption of
agroforestry practices should be updated and harmonized in-order to achieve the 10% tree cover and for farmers and
households to achieve the maximum benefits of agroforestry.
