ON-FARM TREE GROWING OPPORTUNITIES AND CONSTRAINTS IN MURANG’A COUNTY, KENYA

Abstract

Careful and efficient collection of information on agroforestry practices at different agro-ecological zones has a great contribution to promote or to improve important agroforestry practices. This survey was conducted with the objective of identifying major reasons for on-farm tree planting, tree species preferred and prioritizing major constraints to tree planting in Murang’a County, Kenya. The survey was done on 141 selected farmer households in Murang’a North, South and East sub-counties. The data was collected using a pre-tested questionnaire and analyzed with SPSS software. The tree species most popular in all the studied sub-counties included G. robusta, C. eminii, P. americana and C. macrostachyus. These species are valued by farmers for their products including fuelwood, fruits, timber, fencing and ornamental. From the study, 30 tree uses were recorded. About 81% of respondents face various constraints in tree growing such as drought, pest attack, theft, high cost of seedlings, poor soils, animal browsing and trees competition with crops. Despite the constraints, 93% of respondents had plans to plant more trees in future, with preferred species being G. robusta, P. americana, M. indica and Eucalyptus spp. These species were preferred because of their high benefits as souces of income, timber, fuelwood, and fruits. Farmers also prefered tree species that didn’t compete with agricultural crops and potrayed faster growth. Most of the farmers with future tree planting plans preferred boundaries planting. The study findings can guide tree planting in Muranga county and other similar areas.