Adoption of agroforestry in HIV/AIDS affected households of Lwengo District, Uganda.

Abstract

The study focused on adoption of agroforestry in HIV/AIDS affected households of Lwengo district in the sub counties of Kyazanga and Malongo purposively selected due to a high HIV/AIDS prevalence and long history of agroforestry and sought to: (i) establish and characterize the agroforestry practices, (ii) assess factors that influence choice and adoption of agro forestry practices, (iii) analyze how HIV/AIDS affects the adoption of agroforestry practices (iv) examine how agroforestry impacts on HIV/AIDS affected households in Lwengo District. Focus group discussions, observations, Interviews guides and questionnaires were used to collect which were later analysd using content analyses, SPSS version 13.0 and rank correlation Findings revealed that seven agroforestry practices were practiced in Lwengo with woodlots as the most dominant followed by, windbreakers/shelters, home gardens, live fencing, improved fallow, boundary planting and ally cropping respectively adopted by households affected by HIV/AIDS and those that are not. Results further indicated that HIV/AIDS was not the major factor affecting agroforestry and income was the most important benefit of agroforestry to households affected by HIV/AIDS. The study concludes that HIV/AIDS does not significantly affect adoption of agroforestry but knowledge is the most important factor, and that agroforestry continues to be adopted due to the associated benefits of income, improved nutrition, herbal medicine and enhanced food production. The study recommends that extension services in agroforestry with mainstreamed HIV/AIDS be strengthened since HIV/AIDS negatively affects adoption of agroforestry.