Abstract

Ebisa Likassa and Abdela Gure

Shade grown coffee has been promoted as means of preserving biodiversity in the tropics even though expansion of coffee cultivation has been seen as a contributing factor to deforestation and erosion of biodiversity. The study was conducted on diversity of tree species in smallholder coffee farms of Manasibu district, Western Oromia, Ethiopia. The aim of the study was to assess diversity and structure of tree species in smallholder coffee farms as well as farmers management practices in the district. To conduct the study, stratified random sampling method was used. Vegetation data were collected from 74 rectangular plots. The vegetation data was analyzed for tree diversity, Importance value index, similarity coefficient, density, Basal Area, shade cover and other structural parameters. A total of 53 tree species were recorded in which 32 indigenous tree species were common to both forest and coffee farms. Species richness was significantly higher in the adjacent natural forest than in coffee farms. There was significant difference (p<0.05) between Peasant associations (PAs) interims of evenness, coffee shrub density, and tree density. Coffee shrub density was significantly correlated with wealth status. Tree management practices in the study area of coffee farms were more or less the same among the PAs. It was observed that tree species diversity and House Hold (HH) dependency on coffee production increased with the closeness of the PAs to the adjacent natural forest. It was concluded that traditional coffee production system is an important land use system in slowing down loss of biodiversity and should therefore be encouraged.