Advances in Agriculture, Food Science and Forestry

Local farmer’s perception towards Eucalyptus woodlot: Lesson drawn from Jamma district, Northeastern Ethiopia

Tesfanesh Ababu Kebede^1* and Xiaoqian Chen^{2 1}Department of Forestry Development, Ethiopian Forestry Development, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
²Department of Food Science and Forestry, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, China
^*Correspondence: Tesfanesh Ababu Kebede, Department of Forestry Development, Ethiopian Forestry Development, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia,

Received: 11-Feb-2023, Manuscript No. AAFSF-23-89236; Editor assigned: 13-Feb-2023, Pre QC No. AAFSF-23-89236 (PQ); Reviewed: 27-Feb-2023, QC No. AAFSF-23-89236; Revised: 20-Apr-2023, Manuscript No. AAFSF-23-89236 (R); Published: 28-Apr-2023, DOI: 10.51268/2736-1799.23.11.092

Keywords

Binary logit regression, Determinants, Income share, Niches, Woodlot

Introduction

In Ethiopia, natural forests and woodlands are shrinking in the one hand while population and wood demands are rapidly increasing on the other hand. The forest depletion and increasing population have resulted in a severe shortage of wood products, especially fuelwood and construction materials (Liang J, et al., 2016) Tadesse SA). One of the most common solutions to response this problem has been the establishment of fast growing tree species plantations. Plantation forests of exotic tree species are one form of forest in Ethiopia (Tesfaye, et al. 2016; Dejene, et al. 2018). Plantation in the form of woodlot is important for meeting the increasing demand of forest products that supply from the plantation forest and able to reduce supplies from natural forests. One of the measures taken by the government to minimize the problem of scarcity of wood products was introduce fast growing exotic tree species (e.g., Eucalyptus camaldulensis and Eucalyptus globulus) and establish fuelwood projects near urban and peri-urban areas. This rapid growth and adaptability to a range of conditions have made it preferable to any other exotic species grown in the country (Bekele, 2015). Some scholars argued about its negative impact on soil acidification, nutrient depletion allelopathic effect, and excessive water utilization (Negasa T, et al., 2017).

However, the importance of the species because of its fast growth, high biomass production, coppicing ability, browsing, and disease resistance properties make it widely adopted and expanded tree species (Negasa DJ, et al., 2016). In northern Ethiopia, Eucalyptus is the most commonly grown tree species in the community and private woodlots.

Currently, nearly all Eucalyptus woodlots are planted mostly on hilly patches, parts of farmlands that are not suitable for growing food crops, and around homesteads (Negasa, et al. 2016; Negasa, et al. 2017). The ongoing expansion of Eucalyptus plantations by farmers in Ethiopia has been the focus of two major debates on the environmental impact and the economic role of the species. The former debate is related to soil acidification, nutrient depletion, allelopathy effect, and excessive water utilization by the species especially when grown on previously cultivated farmlands (Janice, et al. 2016 and Alemu, 2016).

However, the later debate focuses on the importance of the species because of its fast growth, high biomass production, coppicing ability, browsing, and disease resistance. Nowadays in Ethiopia, the Eucalyptus plantation grown as woodlot have been continuing and used by many farmers for construction materials, fuel wood and related purposes. Despite the potential importance of Eucalyptus, the associated environmental concerns, such as the impoverishment of soil fertility depletion of groundwater, and soil acidification are yet to be undermined by different scientists and communities for Ethiopian site-specific conditions associated with assumptions of its negative effect (Daba M, 2016).

This indicated that the demand for further investigation regarding the impacts of Eucalyptus is very high. With the expansion of woodlot in developing countries like Ethiopia, concerns are rising about relationships between woodlots and local farmers (Zerga B, 2015). Therefore, this study adds to the scant literature on relationships between farmers’ perception and associated factors influencing their perception regarding to Eucalyptus woodlot. Unlike previous studies who demonstrated the perception of farmers on the negative impact of Eucalyptus expansion related to crop, water, soil, environment and related effects, we use econometric model to examine factors influencing farmers perception towards Eucalyptus woodlot (Zerga B, 2016 and Alemayehu, 2022).

To address the mentioned gaps, the main objective of this study was to investigate local farmer’s perception and determinants influencing their perception regarding Eucalyptus woodlot plantation as well as its contribution to the total household income compared to other income sources.

Accordingly, we hypothesized that local households' perception of Eucalyptus woodlot growing in Jamma district is affected by different socioeconomic and demographic variables. Hence, this study aims to answer the following three key research questions:

• What do the local farmers perceive aboutthe Eucalyptus woodlot plantation?
• What factors affect the local farmersperception regarding Eucalyptus woodlot?
• What Eucalyptus woodlot contributes to thehouseholds’ total income? The findings ofthis study will help to address the needsand demands of smallholder farmers whoare engaged and not engaged inEucalyptus woodlot.

Materials and Methods

Study area

The study was conducted in Jamma district, South Wollo zone, Amhara region; Northeastern Ethiopia. Geographically the district is located within the coordinates of 10º09′ 33"-10º35′ 45" N and 39º03′ 24"-39º29′ 1" E (Figure 1). It covers an area of 1,052 km². According to Ethiopian Central Statistical Agency (CSA), the district has a total population of 144,038 of whom 71,339 were males and 72,699 were females (CSA, 2007). The district has a total household of 32,163 and a population density of 121 people per km². Jamma district has a mean annual temperature of 18°C and annual rainfall ranging from 500 to 3600 mm. The altitude of the district ranges from 1400 to 2900 M.A.S.L. 77% of Jama district lays in Woyna Dega or mid land agro ecologies. However, the remaining 23% of the distinct has lowland (kola) and high land (dega) agroecologies (Teshome, 2019).

Sampling technique and data collection method

A total of 3 Eucalyptus potential Kebeles were selected using information from Jamma district. From sample kebeles, a total of 150 randomly selected farmers were used through a random number based on the list of farmers obtained from the kebele administration.

The total sample size was determined according to Israel by using the following formula (Equation 1).

Where:

n=sample size;
N=total population of household;
e=precision level

Before final data collection, a preliminary survey was conducted to get better information about the study area and the kind of data to be collected. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected from primary and secondary sources. To collect data, a household survey, key Informant Interview (KII), and Focus Group Discussion (FGD) was employed. They mainly conducted to obtain quantitative data while KII and FGD conducted to obtain qualitative data. A household survey was conducted through a semi-structured questionnaire, while KII and FGD were conducted through a checklist. The data collection tools were conducted by considering various socio-economic characteristics, income sources, perceptions regarding niches and effects of Eucalyptus, and cognitive (e.g., knowledge, beliefs, and experience) variables. Selected farmers were involved in data collection related to 15 major explanatory variables supposed to affect farmers perception of the Eucalyptus woodlot (Table 1). Those explanatory variables were selected following the previous studies. A total of three FGD was conducted from three sampled kebeles as well as nine KII were selected in the interview with the developmental agent to obtain the general information of Eucalyptus woodlot.

Method of data analysis

The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression model and summarized into tabular and graph format through the help of STATA version 17. Descriptive statistics, such as percentage, frequency, graphs, means, and standard deviation, were used to analyze descriptive variables. A binary logit regression model was used to analyze factors affecting local farmer’s perception of the Eucalyptus plantation. The logit model was selected in this study because the distribution of the data followed the logistic distribution function. The qualitative data obtained from the FGD and KII was summarized using texts and contexts.

Binary logit regression analysis was applied to identify the factor that influences the farmer's perception to establish and allocate the land for the Eucalyptus woodlot. Demographic, institutional, socioeconomic, and biophysical factors, which affect the farmers’ perception, were examined using binary logistic regression. In the logit model farmers who have a positive perception of the Eucalyptus woodlot take the value of 1 and the farmers who have a negative perception of the Eucalyptus woodlot take the value of 0. The dependent variable is a categorical dichotomy (i.e., positive/ negative) while the independent variables include a mix of continuous, and nominal variables (Table 1). According to Gujarati, the functional form of the logit model is presented as follows:

Where:

Pi = the probability of perception of farmers on Eucalyptus woodlot ranges from 0 to 1.
L=the natural log of the odds ratio or logit.

β0=the intercept. It is the value of the log oddratio, (pi/(1-pi)) when X is zero.

β=β1+β2+β3+β4…βn the slope, measures the change in L for a unit change in X; Thus, if the stochastic disturbance term (Ui) is taken into consideration the logit model becomes

Li=β0+β1 X i+Ui.

Table 1: Summary of factor variables affecting farmer’s perception of Eucalyptus woodlot.

Results and Discussion

Socio-economic characteristics of respondents

A total of 150 farmers responded to the questionnaire survey. The majority of the respondents (82.7%) were males, and the average age of the respondents was about 48 years with a standard deviation of 10.34. On average, the respondents were lived in the area for about 44.71 years. The average family size in a household was about 6.45 persons. Regarding the status of education, the vast majority of the respondents (71.3%) were illiterate. The average Eucalyptus production experience of farmers was about 23.61 years with a standard deviation of 6.77. The average landholding size was about 2.51 ha as well as the average livestock holding was 14.88 animals. The majority of the respondents (74%) had access to credit services and about 65.3% of farmers had a positive perception of Eucalyptus plantations. The average annual income of the farmers was about 55729.3200 in Ethiopian birr. The average distance between the houses of the respondents and the nearby forest was taken about 4 hours (Table 2). The average distance between the houses of the respondents and the nearby natural forest was about 5.37 hours as well as the average distance between the houses of the respondents and the marketplace was about 3.7 hours.

Table 2: Summary of samples and descriptive results.

Niches and contribution of Eucalyptus plantation

The survey result shows that about 66.1% of the farmers plant Eucalyptus on degraded land. This is because Eucalyptus is the farmers most preferred tree type in the area to recover their income, maintain food security, and for mitigating rural poverty.

Thus, degraded areas have been given priority for tree planting by households and the government afforestation program to prevent further loss of land. About 23.6% of the respondents have planted Eucalyptus on the farm boundaries of homesteads and around farmland. Low land holding size and fragmentation of lands, which will increase boundary areas and respond to the new tenure system, could explain the desire to plant trees on farmland boundaries.

The other 8.7 % and 1.6% of Eucalyptus growers planted Eucalyptus along the roadside and on farmland with the crop, respectively. Eucalyptus woodlot plantations on degraded land and roadside have to be encouraged when compared to farm boundaries and on farmland plantations with crops since their adverse effect on cereal crops are substantial (Figure 2).

Eucalyptus plantation in the study area has many patterns. Farmers plant Eucalyptus in different forms, such as woodlots around homestead areas, on degraded land or the land that declines in productivity of cereal crops, along the roadside, on-farm boundaries. Similar results were reported by Zerga, Mekonnen, Tefera, Kassa, Gizachew.

Eucalyptus is the most commonly planted tree genera in the highland areas of Ethiopia, due to its adaptability, fast growth, and no palatability for livestock. As presented in Table 3 respondents indicate that about 78.95% of them respond that it is an increase in Eucalyptus woodlot plantations followed by there is no change (14.04%) and the remains think that there is decreasing in Eucalyptus woodlot plantations (7.01%) in the study area. This indicated that the majority of households highlighted that there is an increasing trend of Eucalyptus woodlot. Thus, the study is in line with Tefera and Kassa from Lake Tana Watershed, Derbe, et al., from north Gonder, et al., Alemayehu, et al., from Sidama, Edesa, from Tesfaw, et al., from Blue Nile highland confirm the increasing trend of Eucalyptus planting in the respective study sites. Likewise, Taddesse, et al. stated that the current trends show that smallholder farmers in Ethiopia have engaged in tree planting increasing especially in fast growing trees like Eucalyptus.

Table 3: Perception of farmers on the trends of Eucalyptus woodlot plantation.

Eucalyptus in the study area has several contributions to the livelihood of the households. The key informants reported that Eucalyptus play important role in reducing destruction from natural forests; because of the farmers have their own Eucalyptus plantation they don’t need to go to the forest for construction materials and firewood.

Farmers grow Eucalyptus for construction (38.7%) followed by fuelwood (35.3%) and income generation (26%) as shown in Figure 3. The KIIs and FGDs also pointed out that the variability of Eucalyptus growing niches was due to the availability of land, market availability, conservation of degraded lands, and road access. Previous pieces of the literature demonstrated that farmers grow Eucalyptus trees to fulfill the shortage of fuel wood, construction materials and for income generation for livelihood.

Farmers plant Eucalyptus in different forms, such as woodlots around homestead areas, on degraded land, or on land that declines in productivity of cereal crops, along the roadside, on-farm boundaries (Gizachew, 2017). Eucalyptus has multiple benefits for smallholder farmers for firewood, construction materials, source of income, and farm tools.

The survey result shows that the source of construction materials of the respondents are mainly wood products of Eucalyptus which is from their plantation (77.67%), buying from the market (19.25%), from the natural forest (2.48%) and community plantation (0.62%) (Figure 4). The decision to grow Eucalyptus is predominantly endangered by the need to meet household wood demand. Most household fuel and construction wood demands are met from their Eucalyptus plantation. Eucalyptus wood products are the most preferable construction materials for local communities particularly. The construction of many infrastructures such as health centers, schools, roads, water walls, and community halls is largely dependent on Eucalyptus (Alfred, et al. 2020).

The household survey revealed that Eucalyptus has different products and contributes to the total household income. The result showed that Eucalyptus is the second income contributor (41.6%) to the total household income next to agriculture (Table 4). The finding of this study showed that the contribution of Eucalyptus to the total household income is higher than Alemayehu, et al., found that 35% in Sidama Zone, Southern Ethiopia, and Derbe, et al., found 29% in Wogera District Northern Ethiopia. However, the finding of this study is lower than Edesa, 2021 who found that Eucalyptus contributes about 87% to the total household income in Chelia district, Oromia region. Other findings revealed that the Eucalyptus woodlot was the second income contributor to the total household income. The result is also in line with Getnet, et al., which indicated that the Eucalyptus woodlot contributes significantly to the household’s total income. Among Eucalyptus products income from stumpage price is the first (63.1%) followed by income from construction material (19%) and income from fuelwood (17.9%) regarding the contribution of the total income from Eucalyptus in the study area.

Table 4: Proportion of different income sources to the total household income.

Farmer’s perception of the effects of Eucalyptus woodlot

Table 5 indicated the perception of farmers about the effects of Eucalyptus woodlot plantation on crops and related components. The result shows that Eucalyptus woodlots have effects in terms of shading effect (91.3%), nutrient competition (96.7%), and moisture competition (91.3%). Farmers also perceived that Eucalyptus affected the property of soil by causing infertility (91.3%) and drying of other plant species (94.7%) and most of the farmers assumed that Eucalyptus has an effect on water resources regarding drying out of streams (96%). This result is supported by previous findings who reported that more water is consumed by Eucalyptus than by any other tree species or crops (Xu, et al. 2020). Thus, the plantation expansion of Eucalyptus could affect the future food security of the farmers because of its adverse effect and the competition for food crops (Tadesse SA, 2017).

Table 5: Farmers perception of the effects of Eucalyptus plantation expansion.

Determinants of farmer’s perception towards Eucalyptus woodlot plantation

Results from the binary logit model indicated that the age of the farm household heads negatively and significantly influenced the perception of farmers on Eucalyptus plantations at less than a 1% significance level (Tadesse W, et al., 2019). The estimated coefficient and the odds ratio of the variable were -0.2378 and 0.78839, respectively. This means as the age of farmer’s increases by one year, the tendency of farmer’s perception to be negative on Eucalyptus woodlot plantation would lead to an increase in their negative perception by the odds of 0.78839 keeping other variables constant (Tesfaye MA, et al., 2016). This may be younger farmers are often better disposed to devote themselves to long-term investments like Eucalyptus and have lower risk aversion and longer planning horizons to justify investments in Eucalyptus based technologies. It is probable that with increased age, as a factor of experience and observed changes of the Eucalyptus woodlot plantation over a longer period of time, older farmers oppose the planting of Eucalyptus in their land, unlike the younger farmers. On the other hand, this finding is opposed to other findings, the positive impact of age and farm accumulated experience in favor of more trees on the farm has been reported (Kebede TA, 2022).

The binary logit model result revealed that educational status was negatively correlated with farmer’s perception of Eucalyptus woodlot plantation (Table 6). The result shows that the educational status of the farmer influences negatively and significantly on Eucalyptus plantation at a 1% significance level. The odds ratio shows that keeping other variables constant being a farmer is educated probability of their perception on Eucalyptus woodlot plantation decrease by the odds of 0.17183 (Tesfaw A, et al., 2021). The plausible reason could be when the farmer is educated, they might be well aware of how to manage any impacts of Eucalyptus plantation. Therefore, as compared to illiterate farmers, more educated farmers would likely minimize the potential negative impacts of Eucalyptus plantations (Getnet MT, et al., 2022). Previous studies stated that perception of Eucalyptus plantation plays a key and central role in Eucalyptus plantation management and development (Alemayehu, A., 2018).

Table 6: Binary logistic regression model to predict the perception of farmers to Eucalyptus woodlot plantation.

Length of residence in the area was positively correlated with farmer’s positive perception of Eucalyptus plantation (Gizachew K, 2017). One of the possible reasons could be that farmers who have a residence in the area will have ample information on the history of their settlement in the area might be more interested to plant and grow Eucalyptus woodlot (Feyisa D, et al., 2018). As a result, they may develop a positive perception towards growing Eucalyptus woodlot because they may expect high economic returns derived from Eucalyptus including financial profits obtained from the sale of poles, construction materials, and fuel wood. Farmers perceptions could also be influenced by the experience of farmers on Eucalyptus production (Bayle GK, 2019). Experience in the farming of Eucalyptus was a significant positive impression on farmers regarding Eucalyptus plantation (Degnet MB, et al., 2022). With the assumption of citrus paribus condition, the odds ratio indicates that a unit change of household experience on farming of Eucalyptus increases the probability of positive perception by 11.40582. The result may be interpreted as experience on Eucalyptus woodlot plantation significantly increasing the probability of a farmer considering a positive perception about the species. This implies that with increased experience in Eucalyptus woodlot plantation, it was more likely for a person to observe the positive effect of species and had a positive perception of it (Derbe T, 2018). The finding of this study opposed with previous findings Dessie, et al., who found that farmers experience was significantly and negatively associated with Eucalyptus woodlot production. The market distance was significant for positive correlation with a negative perception of Eucalyptus woodlot plantation (Dessie AB, et al., 2019). The odds ratio indicates that the probability of farmers perceiving the Eucalyptus woodlot plantation as not good increases with market distance by the odds of 1.30082, with the assumption of citrus paribus condition (Edesa DY, 2021). This result may suggest that the favorable condition of market facilities in farmer residences may enable farmers to participate in the plantation of Eucalyptus, but the low transportation service and poor market access discourage farmer’s engagement in the market of Eucalyptus products. As a result of more money and time being spent on the distant market, Farmers might perceive the Eucalyptus plantation as unlikely/negative. The finding is agreed with related studies Dessie, et al., that demonstrated that access of market to the nearest distance of farmer’s residence positively and significantly correlated with Eucalyptus woodlot due to easily availability of Eucalyptus inputs and outputs to farmers (Israel GD, 1992). Distance of farmers from the nearest accessible road was associated negatively with a household positive perception of Eucalyptus plantation at less than a 5 % level of significance. The model result indicated that the farmers who are far away from the nearest road have a negative perception of Eucalyptus woodlot (Nigussie Z, et al., 2017). The odds ratio shows that keeping other variables constant, as the distance of households from accessible road increase by one kilometer, the probability of farmer’s perception towards plant Eucalyptus decreases by the odds of 0.77453. This is probably due to Eucalyptus sellers and buyers mostly choosing roadside plantations to buy for their ease of transportation, which influences the decision of farmers to plant Eucalyptus nearest to accessible roads. This is in line with who indicated that a household's proximity to accessible roads makes it easier to obtain seedlings and sell woodlot products without incurring a high transaction cost (Tefera B, 2017 and Gujarati DN, 2004). People can readily move Eucalyptus wood items such as poles, construction materials, and fuelwood to the market area as the distance between their homes and the neighboring access road lowers Tadesse, and Tafere, Nigussie, et al., Derbe, et al., stated that road distance from the stand is one of the institutional factors found to influence Eucalyptus planting decisions (Zerga B, et al., 2021).

Conclusion

Perceptions of local farmers towards Eucalyptus woodlot plantation depend on the level of socio-economic and biophysical conditions. Furthermore, the perceptions towards Eucalyptus plantation were mostly positive, meaning that farmers associated more positive than negative outcomes of Eucalyptus woodlot plantation. Degraded land, roadsides, farm boundary, and cropland, were the common niches of Eucalyptus woodlot plantation. The local farmers perceived that Eucalyptus plantations have effects in terms of shading, nutrient competition, moisture competition, causing soil infertility, drying of other plant species, and drying out of streams. Evidences from the flinging of this research revealed that Eucalyptus is the second contributor of households total income next to agriculture. Further, the finding suggests that stumpage price income is the first income contributor among Eucalyptus products. In the present study, the binary logistic regression model revealed that different socio-economic and biophysical variables significantly affected farmer’s perceptions either positively or negatively on Eucalyptus woodlot. The findings of the study revealed that local farmer’s perception of the plantation of Eucalyptus was positively correlated with the length of residence in the area and farmers experience in Eucalyptus production. But it was negatively correlated with the age of the farmer, educational status, distance to access the road, and distance to the market. The findings recommended that different concerned bodies should be work to address different socio-economic and biophysical factors affecting farmers perception towards Eucalyptus woodlot. Further research on prioritization of tree species mixing with Eucalyptus tree plantation should be recommended.

Authors Contribution

KTA: Designed and performed the surveys, analyzed the data, wrote, review and edit the manuscript. CX designed the research, review, editing and revised the manuscript.

Competing Interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Acknowledgments

The authors are deeply thankful to the MOFCOM, peoples of republic China for granting the scholarship to study at Beijing Forestry university, China. We would also like to extend our gratitude to the households in the study area who gave us their precious time to discuss Eucalyptus woodlot production by answering the questionnaires and replying to many queries. Thank you all for your valuable contributions, which have contributed to our success.

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