The Role of Agroforestry in Soil and Water Conservation

Agroforestry is one of the most important land use system in which soil and water can be conserved at the same time specially, for small scale agriculture and hilly area. Agroforestry play remarkable role in soil and water conservation. Planting trees on agricultural and non-agricultural lands was a usual practice mainly for southern Ethiopia. For it was inevitable because the area was hilly; the majority of farmers operated on a small scale and would hardly afford intensive management of their crop with integration of suitable trees for the crop they grow. Farmers had detailed knowledge about trees and ecosystems services from the agroforestry system. Ecosystem services provision largely depended on the system's components. Farmers' rationale for selecting shade trees was mainly based on the tree attributes and their preference differed between locations.