Práticas agroflorestais tradicionais acima de 1000 m de altitude nas aldeias de Nhamombe, Chua e Chinhamazizi na Localidade de Penhalonga

Abstract

Agroforestry system is defined as a form of land use and exploitation where perennial woody plants are cultivated in the same land management unit with agricultural and/or animal cultures, either in spatial mixture or in temporal sequence. The general objective of this work was to survey traditional agro-forestry practices above 1000 meters in altitude existing in the villages of Nhamombe, Chinhamazizi and Chua, Penhalonga locality, along the border with Zimbabwe in Manica province. The data survey was based on a questionnaire where semi-structured interviews and direct observations in the farms/houses of the farmers were used. The questionnaire included questions about the component of agroforestry practices, main species, uses of the perennial component, spatial and temporal arrangement of components and main agroforestry practices existing in the villages. The data show that, in the villages of Nhamombe, Chinhamazizi and Chua, according to the nature of the components, the following agroforestry practices were identified: agriforestry, silvopastoral and agrosilvopastoral, with agrisilviculture being presented with the highest frequency around 94%, 81% and 76% respectively. The perennial component consists of fruit species banana, mango, avocado, orange, litchi, mandarin, lemon and guava and forest species Pinus spp., Eucalyptus spp., Uapaca kirkiana, Syzyguim guinense, Cordyla africana, Brachystegia spiciforme, St. spinosa and Ficus sycomorus. The annual component consists mainly of agricultural crops such as cabbage, cabbage, onion, garlic, corn, sugar cane, tomatoes, cowpeas and pineapples while the animal component includes goat, cattle, chicken, pigeon, rabbit and pig . The main practices identified in the village of Nhamombe are: home gardens, hedges and windbreaks, trees on irrigated terraces and small forests, in the village of Chinhamazizi, the identified practices are: home gardens, hedges and windbreaks, multiple use trees in crop and aquaforest areas, on the other hand, in the village of Chua, the identified practices are: home gardens and hedgerows and windbreaks. The main uses of the perennial component in the 3 villages are for food, soil fixation, shade, forage, protection from the wind, medicinal value and as wood fuel. The spatial arrangement varied from mixed to zonal and the temporal from intermittent to interpolated. The conclusions made in the study showed that farmers depend on agroforestry systems for their livelihoods and they showed that they have a solid knowledge of trees in agricultural fields due to the multiple benefits they bring to mountainous areas.