Negash, Legesse (Professor)Kidanemariam, Haileslassie2020-11-252023-11-092020-11-252023-11-092018-08-08http://etd.aau.edu.et/handle/123456789/23565The fruit of Opuntia ficus-indica plays a vital role as a source of income and food security, in regions where annual rainfall is low and erratic, and the landscape is degraded. The main objective of the study was to assess the importance of the fruit and the nopalitos of Opuntia ficus-indica on the livelihood of communities in Tabia May Mesanu and Gola Genahti. These tabias were found in Eastern Zone of Tigray and consists of 99,290 farmers. The population numbers of the two Tabias were 1,090 (for Gola Genahti) and 1,211 (for May Messanu).The total targeted persons were 2,301 farmers and 5 agricultural office workers from which 187 household leaders and agricultural office workers were randomly selected. Questionnaires were prepared and distributed for the selected household leaders and interviews were conducted for the agricultural office workers. The resulting data were calculated in percentages and analyzed using SPSS software version 16. The present study revealed that, fruit of Opuntia ficus-indica has been used as a source of income in both Tabia May Messanu and Gola Genahti, with a 22% increase in fruit sales during the last three years. Of the total of 187 the majority of the respondents (95.2%) affirmed that the plant’s fruit is used as supplementary diet for humans, while the balance (4.8%) said that they use the fruit as their regular food, especially during times of food scarcity. In contrast, a large percentage of the respondents (85.0%) said that they use the plant as regular animal feed. Interestingly, many of the farmers (95.2%) use both the fruit peel and the nopalitos for feeding their animals. Based on the present study, I conclude that Opuntia ficus-indica has diverse financial and environmental uses, including use as food, forage, fuel wood, cash income, as well as the species’ importance for live fencing and biological soil conservation.enCladodesFeedFodderForageFruitHousehold LeadersLivelihoodNopalitosNorthern EthiopiaThesis