Review on Contribution of Home Garden Agroforestry on Woody Species Biodiversity Conservation and their Livelihood Improvement in Ethiopia

Agriculture is the dominant sector of the Ethiopian economy.It provides about 52 percent of the country`s gross domestic product, 85 percent of its employment and 90 percent of its export earnings Badege, B, et al 2006.It is the main backbone of the economy and the major occupation of the Ethiopian population (MoME, 2003).Population growth has a large impact on the livelihood of smallholder farmers (Josephson et al., 2014).Agroforestry is dynamic, ecologically based natural resource management system that involves the integration of trees in agricultural landscape and rangeland diversifies and sustains production for increased social, economic and environmental benefits Duguma, L. A. & Hager, H. (2010), Kiptot, E.& S. Franzel. (2011).To meet the current diverse people's requirements application of agroforestry, this is more advantageous than monocropping McNeely J. A. & Scroth G., (2006) because agroforestry can improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers by providing various products and services.Due to rapid growth of population, farm size is declined.Land fragmentation and declining farm size is a critical problem that smallholder farmers are facing for maintaining the traditional farming practices in (Headey et al., 2014).Agroforestry homegarden is one, among the smallholder agriculture practices, that has been considered as an opportunity to contribute to feeding the estimated 9 billion people in the world by 2050(Christiaensen et al., 2011)).Farmers established and developed agroforestry as a livelihood strategy, to manage their agricultural systems by nurturing trees in their homesteads, farms and grazing lands, making crops and tree-farming practices as an efficient agricultural and natural resource production system (Mohri et al., 2013).A growing population has resulted in an increasing demand for goods and services from forests and forest products including timber, medicines, wild Abstract: Agroforestry is an ancient practice and also the farmers are too much familiarized with it in Ethiopia.It contributes incredible benefits via socio-economic and environment.The main idea of this paper is to review Homegarden agro forestry practice and its contribution on woody species biodiversity conservation and improving the livelihoods of smallholder farmers in Ethiopia.The literature concludes that the high species diversity, multi-strata structures and complexity of structure are found in homegarden agroforestry.The presence diverse woody species of homegardens that serve different to fulfill a diversity of social, economic, cultural need, while providing a number of ecosystem services/ environmental services (reduce soil erosion, increase soil moisture and fertility, coffee shade, and keep micro climate balance) and play a great role of biodiversity conservation.These could contribute to the sustainability of agricultural system.Homegarden agroforestry practice is highly recommended and acceptable than mono-cropping consequently it provides a socio-economic benefits like tree products (Timber, firewood, construction materials and fruit for food) and income.As result farmers were accounted it as a mainstay for maximizing their land productive capacity then improve the smallholder's livelihoods.Therefore, the government should encourage Home garden agroforestry practice for improving the livelihoods of farmer and smoothly to tolerate the variable of climate change.