Contributions, engagement and dependency of agroforestry to livelihood among rural farmers in Osho Forest Reserve in Oyo State

An increasingly popular land-use strategy to improve food security, revenue creation, and environmental preservation is agroforestry, which combines trees with crops and cattle. The contribution of agroforestry methods to rural livelihoods in Osho Forest Reserve, Oyo State, Nigeria, was evaluated in this study, 120 homes were chosen from five communities near forests using a two-stage sample procedure, and standardized questionnaires were used to gather data. Descriptive statistics and logit regression models were employed for analysis. According to the results, most respondents (57.5%) were in the productive age range of 31 to 40 years, 61.7% were female, and 55% had only completed secondary school. Among the contributions were increased nutrition (82.5%) and food security (94.2%). expanded household income streams (50.8%) and enhanced land productivity (76.7%). According to regression analysis, age (β = 0.137, p < 0.10), household size (β = 1.491, p < 0.01), and secondary occupation (p < 0.10) all significantly impacted household engagement in agroforestry, whereas age (β = 0.083, p < 0.10) and household size (β = 1.163, p < 0.01) significantly determined reliance on agroforestry. Lack of government backing (58.3%), high labor expenses (50.8%), insufficient financial resources (51.7%), and poor technical knowledge (59.2%) were the main obstacles to adoption. According to the study's findings, agroforestry considerably improves rural livelihoods and lessens dependency on forest resources. To maintain adoption among communities that depend on forests, it suggests enhancing extension services, expanding access to loans and high-quality seedlings, and advocating for enabling laws.