Assessment of Farmers Local Knowledge on the Effect of Indigenous Agro Forestry Practice to Land Degradation Management a case Study of Chelia District, West Shoa Zone, Oromia Region, Ethiopia

A study was conducted in chelia district westshoa zone of Oromia regional state in Ethiopia to describe farmer local knowledge on the effect of indigenous agro forestry practices to land degradation management. The objective this study was to generate the existing of local knowledge of people about the role of indigenous agroforestry effect on land degradation management. Simple random samplingand purposive sampling were used to select a total of 66 farmers ( 41 females and 25 males) to make an interview for data collection by preparing structured questions which consisted both open ended and closed questions. In addition some socio economic factors (wealth status, sex of household head, education status and age) of the respondents were study to see their effect on the use of indigenous agro forestry system for land degradation management in the study area and to identify the type of tree and shrubs found at the study area.In the study area majority of the respondents (>84%) use agro forestry to gain better quality organic matter while others (>81%)confirmed prevention of soil erosionso of Agroforestry land use system ,the majority of the respondents were reflected that indigenous agroforestry could be a positive contribute to soil management approach. In the study area the major tree and shrub species diversity in their dominance order were:- Acacia albida, Eculyptus,Cordia africana, Ficus and Oli africana.