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Taungya agroforestry programme in dryland of Sudan: incentives, challenges and strategies for improvement

¹University of Sopron, Fac. of Forestry, Inst. of Environmental Protection and Nature Conservation, Hungary
²University of Khartoum, Fac. of Forestry, Dept. of Silviculture, Sudan

Abstract

Taungya Agroforestry programme has been practised for a long time in different parts of Sudan as one of the strategies implemented by the Forest National Corporation to halt deforestation and forest degradation and as a mean of livelihood improvement for the communities surrounding the forest reserves. In the program, the Forest National Corporation allocated a predetermined area inside the reserved forests and provided the farmers with seedlings and technical assistance. Farmers are allowed to grow their subsistence and commercial crops between tree spacing at the early stage of tree establishment. This study used both quantitative and qualitative methods among 200 Taungya farmers from nine villages surrounding Nabag Forest Reserve in South Kurdufan State, Sudan to discover the major incentives and challenges associated with Taungya programme in the study area. The study results revealed that the high productivity inside the forest, access to free land, and the highly fertile soil inside the forest were the main incentives for farmers to participate in the program. The study also indicates that the lack of extension services and supervision from Forest National Corporation, overgrazing and crop destruction, land size allocation, and crop species restrictions discourage farmers from participating. To overcome these challenges, the study suggested that: (i) the priority budget allocation be given to the extension services that could empower farmers and guarantee to transfer and deliver the extension services adequately; (ii) Taungya farmers could use the live fences to protect their farms and Forest National Corporation could facilitate this by allowing farmers to use the branches of failed trees during the migration season of pastoralists; and (iii) the Forest National Corporation should reconsider farmers’ interest in having intercropping sorghum on their farms by revising tree spacing in the future.

Keywords: Challenges, incentives, Sudan, Taungya agroforestry

Contact Address: Mohamed Hemida, University of Sopron, Fac. of Forestry, Inst. of Environmental Protection and Nature Conservation, Sopron bajcsy-Zsilinszky u. 4, 9400 Sopron, Hungary, e-mail: mohamed.hemidaphd.uni-sopron.hu