The Gum Tree (Eucalyptus) Farming in Ethiopia: Expansion and Implications on Land Use and Livelihoods of Rural Households, Evidence from Gurage Zone
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Date
2024-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Due to its perceived superior economic benefits over conventional agriculture, eucalyptus tree farming is becoming more and more popular among smallholder farmers in the highlands of Ethiopia, including Gurage Zone. However, this practice has caused controversies from both a theoretical and practical standpoints. Despite the fact that smallholder farmers have embraced it quickly, there are inadequate studies on its environmental and livelihood effects to generate reliable insights so as to inform policy makers regarding its planting and use. This study seeks to fill some of the gaps by using a mixed research method. For this purpose a total of 480 sample households from six purposefully selected kebeles were identified using systematic random sampling procedures. In addition, Key Informant Interviews (KIIs), Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) as well as field observations and satellite images of the study area were used as data collection tools to generate the required data to address the research questions. The quantitative data were analyzed using appropriate econometric and descriptive data analysis methods, while the qualitative data were analyzed using the content analysis approach. The data analysis revealed that the majority of households believed eucalyptus trees to have a negative impact on the environment, while they perceived it as having a positive impact on their livelihoods. The ordered logit estimation indicated factors like total land holding, school year of household head and participation in non/off-farm activities to be significant factors in influencing the perceptions of households. The study further indicated eucalyptus tree to have a remarkable economic and social contribution to smallholder households’ livelihoods. Among other advantages, its contribution as energy source for cooking was found to be almost 98%. While 92% of surveyed households reported using their own plantation to meet own demands for wood products. Moreover, eucalyptus tree benefits households to meet their emergency cash needs and contributes almost 31% to their total household cash income. The fractional logit model showed factors such as total household income, age of household head, livestock resource as well as distance from the main roads to be some of the important factors influencing the share of land households allocate to eucalyptus trees. For the year 2000, 2010, and 2021, the LULC maps' mean classification accuracy and overall Kappa values were found to be 89.17 and 0.83, respectively. The LULC assessment of the study area indicated eucalyptus trees to have expanded over the past two decades on average at a rate of 42 Ha. per annum, suggesting eucalyptus trees to be the major contributor to the LULC change of the study area. The LULC analysis further indicated that eucalyptus trees to have expanded at the expense of crop lands which were found to be on a declining trend over the past decade. The econometric estimation indicated that land size and proximity to main roads to be important factors influencing the plantation of eucalyptus trees by sample households. The study used HFIAS, FCS, and a composite indicator created from the aforementioned indicators to assess the food security situation of the study area. The result revealed various food security issues in the study area due to both food quantity and quality challenges. The composite food security indicator showed almost 44% and 31.2% of the sample households as food insecure and food secure, respectively. While the balance (24.8%) to be in the intermediate category. The multinomial logit model also revealed that a household's total land holdings and its livestock resources as some of the factors that positively influence the likelihood of being in the food secure category. The marginal effect suggests that a one-unit increase in income from eucalyptus trees will increase the likelihood of being in the intermediate group by 8.5% while decreasing the probability of being in the food secure and food insecure categories by 8.1% and 0.4%, respectively. This study suggests the need to address the issues surrounding eucalyptus trees. The first and most important step should be reaching a common understanding among the various stakeholders in recognizing eucalyptus as an important integral part of the smallholders farming system. This will require ix continuous discussions and providing timely information on the need to integrate tree planting with crop production using various communication channels so that eucalyptus trees will be used properly to improve the socioeconomic conditions of the smallholder farmers without compromising the food production potential and the environmental qualities of the study area. In order to achieve this, the nation should formulate and implement a land use policy that give sufficient right to land owners to engaged in land development activities legally and confidently with the full support and recognition of experts and government authorities. In addition, this policy should give authorities sufficient legal right to monitor and regulate rural land use to ensure its sustainable utilization in such a way that it fosters the overall development of rural areas
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Keywords
Gum tree, Perception, Environmental effects, Eucalyptus expansion, Land use, Food insecurity, Land allocation, Livelihoods, Eucalyptus farming