Abstract:
Agroforestry has over the years contributed undeniably to farmers’ livelihood. In Nigeria, most
practiced form of agroforestry is the home gardens and the taungya farming system. This review
has its spotlight on the latter. In recent years, farmers’ livelihood situations have progressively
worsened with growing food insecurity. A good number of studies has shown that farmers who
participate in taungya farming have been able to increase their income considerably and had
improved crop productivity. Overexploitation of forest resources however remains a major
challenge for farmers towards achieving sustainable livelihood. Integrating agricultural food
crops with tree planting will curb unnecessary deforestation to large extent, serving as an
effective buffer. Population rise has also been a constant problem creating pressure on available
land leading to land shortage. The taungya system thus supports the landless and poor farmers
and helps in reforestation. Although taungya farming system is not an automatic remedy to
alleviating rural poverty, decisions of rural farmimg households to participate in the farming
system can clearly aid their coping abilities during emergency situations, thereby preventing
them from wallowing deeper in poverty. Evidences from studies reviewed shows clearly that
farmers’ cash income were increased and their well-being enhanced. The Nigerian scenario
agrees with what is obtainable across Africa, therefore consolidated action at both national and
international level is needed to take full advantage of benefits embedded in the taungya farming
system to successfully improve smallholder farmers’ livelihood |
