| Deforestation, accelerated soil erosion, and land degradation are serious problems in Ethiopia. The uncontrolled removal of natural forests, demographic pressures and cyclical drought has aggravated the situation, resulting in massive environmental degradation and a serious threat to sustainable agriculture and forestry. To overcome these problems efforts have been made to launch an afforestation and conservation program; however, success to date has been limited.;Thus, the main objective of this study is to find the reasons for lack of success in tree planting in the Alemaya Basin both from biophysical and socio-economic perspectives. And, based on this analysis, to propose an alternative strategy for agroforestry for the Basin.;The study has identified and characterized major land uses, socio-economic constraints and agricultural and forestry practices which have limited forestry development in the Alemaya Basin. To gather the necessary information for the study, existing information sources were reviewed. Two stage sampling was used for a land-use survey, and stratified random sampling for the socio-economic study.;Decrease in farm size due to population increases, soil erosion, shortage of fuelwood and fodder for livestock and lack of appropriate extension service were found to be the major problems that affect sustainable production in the Alemaya Basin.;Agroforestry is one of the appropriate technologies to overcome some of the problems faced by the farmers in the Alemaya Basin. The study proposed a desired state of sustainable agriculture and forestry for the Basin based on population projections, agriculture and forest products needs, and stable or improved living standards for a 20 year planning period. Alley cropping with and without fertilizers was identified as a promising agroforestry technology. Its economic feasibility was assessed by estimating costs and returns both for traditional farming and alley cropping. |
