The wealth of knowledge from the indigenous agroforestry practitioners provides the level and depth knowledge that has developed over centuries among the indigenous people. Agroforestry has played and is still playing a key role in the conservation and management of land resources in a sustainable way. Agroforestry ecosystems harbour a variety of life forms functioning together which in turn provide the services that enable the wellbeing of humanity and other life forms. Agroforestry, the integration of trees in agricultural activities has the capacity to increase soil fertility, nutrient recycling, reduce evaporation, and reduce land degradation from erosion, carbon sequestration and improvement of water quality. These benefits will have an impact and environmental benefits contribution at the farm scale, local and regional levels. Agroforestry practices in general will help to maintain the wellbeing of societies at all levels. Agroforestry practices are also believed to contribute for the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations in various ways. The practices have helped to fight hunger by the deployment of agroforestry based soil fertility and land management methods. The average proportion of the food insecure world population has decreased from 37% to 18%, and the availability of food has enhanced in the developing world. Trees have also a magnificent contribution in fixing nitrogen that can increase agricultural productivity. Many of the rural poor are able to generate income through the production of trees which has created the enabling environment for ease of access to health services and nutritional sources. Agroforestry practices have also contributed a lot in the protection of watershed services and maximize the production systems.

The role of agroforestry on current Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations through climate change adaptation and mitigation is getting explicit. No single approach of food security will be productive without the ecological and economic contribution of trees. It requires the integrated approach of sustainable land use models in order to lift up the living standards of the wider agriculture based portion of the world population. Agroforestry is a proven model of integrated sustainable land use system which can enhance agricultural productivity and production in a low input and in an ecological and economically feasible way in the effort of enhancing food security sustainably. Indigenous agroforestry has been and still is a dominant land use practice in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and People’s Regional State of Ethiopia by forming the major component of the farming system. The region is known for its diverse and immense biodiversity resources that contributed for healthy ecosystem functions, sustainable livelihoods development and enhanced food security status of the region. The Government of Ethiopia Climate Resilient Green Economy Strategy also outlines the integration of agroforestry systems in to forage legumes, croplands, expansion of green energy sources, forest and biodiversity conservation are believed to ensure the sustained development of the indigenous agroforestry practices of the country. This will also develop and enhance the country’s contribution towards the global efforts of global mitigation of greenhouse gases whilst it helps to ensure the inclusive growth by improving the resilience of the poorer communities towards the effects of climate change. Lante Kebele of Arba Minch Zuriya district is known for its immense and rich indigenous agroforestry practices and biodiversity resources in the area. This study was, therefore, dutch buckets system held in Lante in order to explore the indigenous agroforestry practices so that the knowledge and practices of the locality can be conserved and scaled up in other parts of the country and beyond.The general model of agroforestry practices considers shrubs, crops, perennials, trees, livestock, etc. as a basic element to it. Hence, agroforestry systems can be categorized as silvopastoral , agrisilvicultural  and agrosilvopastoral . Each system can be composed of different agroforestry practices that can be practiced in a particular location or region where there will be environmental, biological and economic linkages and interactions within the different tree and non-tree elements of the system. The agroforestry practices on the other hand can also indicate the specific land resources management activities in spatial and temporal arrangements. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nation had defined agroforestry as “a collective name for land-use systems and technologies where woody perennials  are deliberately used on the same landmanagement units as agricultural crops and/or animals, in some form of spatial arrangement or temporal sequence.

Agroforestry can also be defined as a dynamic, ecologically based, natural resource management system that, through the integration of trees on farms and in the agricultural landscape, diversifies and sustains production for increased social, economic and environmental benefits for land users at all levels”.Agroforestry systems and practices are providing various ecosystem services and environmental benefits that have local and regional importance. The benefits of agroforestry practices also can have an economic dimension since it helps to maximize agricultural production by reducing soil erosion, water and organic matter losses. Through organic matter development and maintenance, the practices can increase microbial activities which can help nutrient recycling which can increase the fertility of soil under agricultural production. This can also improve the physio-chemical characteristics of the soil which can result for a better infiltration potential of the soil. They do have also an important role in reducing acidification and salinization related soil toxicities. As many of the indigenous communities are highly reliant on indigenous medicines extracted from trees, the practices have played and are playing a significant role in maintaining the health of communities in a productive way. In line with this, planting of trees in crop lands is also known to reduce insect pest and disease infestation. Nitrogen fixing trees can also increase agricultural production and thereof reduced cost for agricultural inputs. The Government of Canada Agriculture and Agro-food Agency mentioned as agroforestry practices are essential resources to combat climate because of their role in sequestering carbon and other greenhouse gases. It estimated as a mature poplar tree can help to sequester 266 kgs of carbon and a white spruce tree will sequester 143 kgs of carbon. It is also worthy to note that these figures doesn’t include the amount of carbon which will be stored in the roots below the ground that could amount 50% – 75% of the total stored on the other parts of the tree above the ground. These figures do not include the carbon stored in the roots, which may be equal to 50 to 75 per cent of the carbon stored above ground. Apart from this, agroforestry practices are also known to increase the biodiversity resource potentials. In particular, since they provide shelter and food, they are known to support the existence of wildlife.Lante, the study area is one of the localities in Arba Minch Zuriya district of GamoGofa Zone which is located in the Southern Nations and Nationalities Peoples’ Regional State of Ethiopia. Situated in the Great Rift Valley region, the district is located about 505 km south west of Addis Ababa. The district has a total of 29 Kebeles . Agro ecologically 4 kebeles are highlands, 15 kebeles at mid altitude and the rest 10 are found in the low land zone with a rainfall amount of 800 mm – 1200 mm per annum. The temperature also ranges from 16˚C – 37˚C. There are two cropping seasons, namely, Belg , Meher . Lante being one of the Kebeles located in the lowland areas has a total population of about 7479 . The Kebele has an average altitudinal range of 1175 – 1267 meter above sea level. Lante is also bordering with Lake Abaya which has a great contribution towards its potential for agroforestry and other agricultural activities.

Semi-structured interviews with the local inhabitants and ground truthing observations were deployed as data collect instruments. Secondary sources of information such as literatures and reports were also reviewed. Discussions were also held with the concerned Government officials. A total of 62 community members  and 6 concerned government staff participated in the interview process. The different aspects of agroforestry such as the types of indigenous agroforestry practices, the perception towards the practices, threats, opportunities, etc. were explored during the discussions. Then data was transcribed and analyzed by making use of descriptive statistics on excel sheet and through content analysis.Indigenous agroforestry practices form the livelihoods history of Southern Ethiopia. It is a widely practiced activity in the region and that has helped the region to remain green while the rest of the country’s woody vegetation is being degraded substantially. In the South it is not uncommon to see about ten different types of trees in the backyard of the smallholder farmers, mostly dominated by multipurpose species which have nutritional, economic and economic importance. Mango trees, Enset , Moringa, Papaya, etc. are among to mention . According to the respondents,dutch buckets as of very recent during the ‘Derg’ regime, the establishment of the socialist system based Producer’s Cooperatives  also contributed a lot for the growth and expansion of agroforestry practices in the area. This is mainly because of the fact that, during that regime each individual household was allowed to own a very small area of land at their backyard for their private use as a result of the communalism of resources ideology that was strategized at that time. This phenomenon has forced farmers to stock and combine different species of trees which are of different use and livestock in that allowable plot of backyard land so as to supplement the food and other demands of the household.In the southern region of Ethiopia in general and Lante Kebele in particular home gardens are the widely practiced indigenous agroforestry activities. It is very common to observe multipurpose trees, fruit trees, and vegetables along with livestock in the backyard of many households. In this practice trees like Moringa are widely planted as they supplement the household’s major source of meal throughout the year. Fruits like Mango, Papaya, Lemon, False banana , Orange, Avocado and Banana are also serving as sources of supplementary food and income generation opportunities. The smallholder farmers also plant Sugarcanes which is also another important source of cash for the household needs . Vegetables such as capsicum, cabbage and sweet potatoes are also widely practiced as they form the major source of food in the community. In addition to this, cattle, chicken, donkeys, goats and sheep are reared in the backyard and the free gazing system of the locality.The households also make use of live-fences made of bushes, Jatropha and other trees like Eucalyptus . Other trees such as Ficus and Olive species are also grown in the backyard since they serve as medicinal plants. This practice has helped the smallholder farmers to maintain the local agro-ecology while they also managed to get nutritional sources of food within their own holdings.

One elder when asked about the importance of agroforestry he mentioned “… it is like my savings in a bank, I can get edible items of different types whenever I need it!”. In times of rainfall and water shortage, the trees will always be able to provide edible fruits since they will be able to get moisture from the underground water. Thus, agroforestry has played to cope up with disaster by building the resilience of the community in times of drought and rain failure. Based on the coping mechanism potentials of agroforestry and modern agriculture, the lion’s share of the respondents showed their preference to continue agroforestry practices than field crops production. Some, however, also preferred the field crops production since they considered harvesting a reasonable amount of produce in a specific period of time as an advantage .This practice is mainly carried out on farmlands. Ground truthing of this practice revealed as the intercropping activities have a tangible impact in maintaining soil organic matter, reduced evaporation from the soil surface as a result of the leaf fall mulch, shelter for shade loving plants such as coffee and also serves as shade for humans whenever working in the farm. The trees are believed to create conducive microclimate for the proper development of the undergrowth as they will be serving as windbreak and reducing the heat effects of the tropics overhead sun. The leaf fall which will stay on the surface also serves to lower down the devastating effects of rainfall drop splash and erosion.