LAUSR

Understanding farmers’ underlying perceptions and knowledge of the impact of trees on-farm is essential to develop appropriate agroforestry practices that meet farmers’ aspirations. Using the Australian-funded Trees for Food Security (T4FS) project as a case study, we obtained quantitative data from questionnaire interviews with 400 smallholder farmers belonging to four farmer categories in the Mt. Elgon region of Uganda. The categories were: (1) those actively participating in the T4FS project from phase 1 (2014); (2) farmers neighbouring those actively participating in the T4FS project from phase 1; (3) farmers actively participating in the T4FS project from phase 2 (2017) and; (4) farmers living distant and unaware of the T4FS project. Farmer perceptions and knowledge of the impact of trees on farm and their management varied across the farmer categories studied. The intended purpose of trees on farm was perceived differently by the four farmer categories (p < 0.05), which may have implications to their adoption and scaling up. Unlike other farmer categories, the majority of farmers actively participating in the T4FS project from phase 1 perceived planting of trees for shade as not being too much trouble for what it is worth (complexity), and that a garden shaded with trees has more general benefits than an unshaded garden (relative advantage). While 50% of farmers actively participating in the T4FS project from phase 1 indicated that they pruned their tree canopies, tree pruning was mainly driven by the need for fuelwood, rather than the need to reduce tree shade. All the four farmer categories perceived that coffee grown under shade was more likely to be infected by diseases than unshaded coffee, attributing it to poor shade tree management. Managing these trees would otherwise control the negative effects of over shading and prolong the period of intercropping. This study shows the importance of context-specific design of research and development projects aiming for local impact.