Household economy and traditional agroforestry systems in western Kenya

In the cash budgets of farm households in western Kenya, off-farm occupations and crops account for the most important sources of income. Tree and livestock products are of secondary importance in cash terms, although farmers attach great importance to trees as a source of income because of the various non-monetary functions they supply. The findings presented in this paper suggest that two variables, the domestic development cycle of households and wealth, are likely to affect the adoption pattern of certain introduced agroforestry technologies, depending on farmers' strategies to produce tree products and milk for subsistence, largely for the market or some combination of the two. However, for the most part, farmers in western Kenya are likely to give first priority to investing in enterprises, such as business and livestock production, that yield short-term financial returns as oppossed to investing in long-gestation agroforestry technologies which provide non-tangible benefits and financial returns only after several years. © 1997 Kluwer Academic Publishers.