Agroforestry is a land-use system that integrates woody perennials with crops, mushrooms, non-timber forest products and/or livestock, thereby enhancing socio-ecological resilience by buffering shocks, sustaining ecosystem functions and maintaining landscape multifunctionality. Evidence from enset-based homegarden agroforestry in southern Ethiopia demonstrates how agroforestry functions as resilience infrastructure, contributing to food security, adaptation and stability. Yet current policies and practices often prioritize short-term productivity through mono-culture cultivation over the systemic resilience benefits of agroforestry. To fully realize its potential, policymakers must strengthen targeted support, landscape conservation and resilience-focused monitoring that integrates ecol ogical, social and governance dimensions.
Policy recommendations
- Mainstream agroforestry as resilience infrastructure within national and sub-national agricultural, climate and biodiversity strategies.
- Protect landscape mosaics through spatial planning to prevent land-use simplification.
- Align innovation and extension with traditional knowledge, enhancing disease management, value addition and adaptive practices without displacing local systems.
- Institutionalize resilience-based monitoring with participatory, indicator-driven approaches to track ecological, livelihood and governance health.
- Reinforce knowledge transfer and inclusive governance for long-term stewardship and intergenerational adaptability.
