“Recognizing the rights of local people to their indigenous knowledge and traditional use of native plants and to
benefit from commercial development of this knowledge” (Leaky et al, 2006)
In Babati district, Tanzania, agro-forestry land use system has been traditionally used for
hundreds of years. It is a multi layer system with trees and/or bushes integrated with crops.
That knowledge has been extended in the district through the land management programme,
LAMP. It is said to be a “win-win” system with both economic and ecologic benefits. For a
land use system to be sustainable, three spheres have to incorporate to reach a balanced
development; the economic sphere, the ecologic sphere and the social sphere. To achieve
sustainable development, one sphere can not develop without the others. This study aims to
see if agro-forestry in Babati district balances all three spheres, if it is a proper tool toward
sustainable development. It is a qualitative case study with semi-structured interviews with
farmers in Babati and one interview in Sweden. The fieldwork in Babati where held under
two weeks, based on interviews with farmers who practice agro-forestry and farmers who do
not, and their opinion about it. The result indicates that it employs a lot of people and that the
economy among farmers in the district has improved. Most farmers say their economy is more
secure, because it is a multipurpose system and most people can adopt the technologies
because high costs or advanced technology are not required. Farmers benefit from the
ecosystem services provided from agro-forestry, for example water catchment and decreased
soil erosion which also improves the environment. Soils regain their fertility and the land use
becomes more resilient when trees integrate with crops. Many farmers believe the equity
between gender has improved and that condition for women improves when fuel wood can be
gathered from trees on the farm instead of walking long distances to a forest. The conclusion
is that agro-forestry in Babati district fulfill more or less all three sustainability spheres and is
a useful tool towards sustainable development, but has not yet reached full potential, there are
possibilities for improvements and to scale up for greater benefits for all three spheres.