Land tenure systems and extension methods: assessment of agroforestry adoption in Kalungu Sub-county, Masaka District, Uganda

Abstract

An assessment of the role of land tenure system and choice of extension method on adoption of agroforestry practices was conducted in Kalungu sub-county; Masaka district, Uganda. Questionnaires were administered to 55 randomly selected farmers who practice agroforestry and 5 extension staff members from Vi-Agroforestry Project (VIAP). Chi-square tests (p<0.05) were run to determine the relationships between the farmers’ preferred extension method and their accessibility. The Gamma and Fisher’s tests were also run to explore the relationship between the most common land tenure system and the preferred extension approach. The most preferred extension methods included group extension (69%) method, individual method (15%), and village meetings (10%) respectively. The radio (2%), field tours (2%) and field days (10%) were the least preferred extension approaches. The decision to adopt agroforestry practice was influenced by land tenure. Eighty percent of the farmers preferred freehold land tenure system for agroforestry adoption while few preferred leasehold tenure system (19%). The important policy recommendation made is that farmers should be encouraged to form tree farmers groups in order to access agroforestry extension services.