Land ownership and its impact on adoption of agroforestry practices among rural households in Kenya: a case of Busia county

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.