This project is against a background of increasing deforestation in Kibaale District. The loss of forest cover in the country is most severe in Kibaale and Nakasongola districts posing risks of fuel wood scarcity and food insecurity. According to recent National Forestry Authority (NFA) studies which compared satellite images of 1990 and 2005; Kibaale district had only 26,000 hectares of high forests by 2005 up from 80.000 hectares in 1990 representing a loss of 68%. This is mainly due to forest land conversion for farm land and what is being destroyed is not being restored. This rapid destruction is mainly occurring on private land where government has no control and cannot touch people who cut down trees.

The most alarming thing is that whereas NFA intends to plant 200.000 hectares of trees by 2012, it is estimated that over 400.000 hectares will have been cut down by the same year. Thus presenting a serious conservation challenge. Declining soil productivity and over emphasis on exotic pine and eucalyptus large scale reforestation programmes, (which are expensive for smallholder farmers), at the expense of indigenous tree species, are the other worrying realities. Livelihood opportunities inherent in agroforestry, presenting avenues of environmental conservation and poverty reduction are grossly untapped. The obtaining farming practices of overgrazing, slash and burn, monocropping and shifting cultivation are non beneficial to both the environment and the overall livelihood strategies for rural households. Thus the need to introduce integrated farming which has potential solutions to the problems mentioned.

By engaging in agroforestry, smallholder farmers will significantly improve local forestry conservation, improve the quality of their farm lands and directly support new income generating activities with out necessarily harming the environment. The project will involve training farmers in topics of sustainable land use management and environmental conservation while highlighting the benefits of agroforestry to allow the farmers make informed decisions while also empowering them to demand for appropriate agroforestry services from Kibaale district local government. It will equip the participating farmers with on-farm tree nursery management skills, selection of indigenous tree seeds/lings for fruit and firewood and the introduction of cut- and- carry grazing system while demonstrating its advantages over uncontrolled grazing.