Research Article Agroforestry and Management of Trees in Bunya County, Mayuge District, Uganda Monica Kyarikunda, 1 Antonia Nyamukuru, 2 Daniel Mulindwa, 3 and John R. S. Tabuti 2,4 1 Bishop Stuart University, P.O. Box 09, Mbarara, Uganda 2 Sustainable Use of Plant Diversity (SUPD), P.O. Box 16794, Wandegeya, Uganda 3 Department of Environmental Management, College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, Makerere University, P.O. Box 7062, Kampala, Uganda 4 College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES), Makerere University, P.O. Box 7062, Kampala, Uganda Correspondence should be addressed to Monica Kyarikunda; kmonicam@yahoo.com Received 17 February 2017; Accepted 30 April 2017; Published 31 May 2017 Academic Editor: Piermaria Corona Copyright © 2017 Monica Kyarikunda et al. his is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Woody plant resources continue to disappear in anthropogenic landscapes in Uganda. To slow down further loss of these resources requires the collaboration of farmers in tree planting in agroforestry systems. Tree planting interventions with the collaboration of farmers require a good understanding of tree management practices as well as trees that best satisfy farmers’ needs. We carried out this research to determine (1) the most preferred tree species and reasons why they are preferred, (2) the species conservation statuses, and (3) existing tree management practices and challenges to tree planting. Fourteen priority species valued because they yield edible fruits and timber have been prioritised in this study. Farmers are interested in managing trees but are constrained by many factors, key among which is scarcity of land and inancial capital to manage tree planting. Trees are managed in crop ields and around the homestead. From farmers’ reports, the highly valued species are increasing in the landscape. In conclusion, the potential to manage trees in agroforestry systems exists but is hampered by many challenges. Secondly, the liking of trees that supply edible fruits seems to support the welfare maximisation theory which ideally states that rural people manage trees with the aim of having regular access to products that satisfy their household needs and not for income generation. 1. Introduction Woody species (i.e., tree and shrubs) are threatened with local extinction and are disappearing fast, most especially in tropical Africa [1, 2]. In Uganda tree loss is rapidly growing and is estimated at 1.8% per year [3]. his rate of tree loss is fastest in anthropogenic landscapes outside protected areas where it is estimated to occur at a rate of 2.27% per annum. For this reason the forest estate outside protected areas reduced from 3.46 million to 2.3 million ha between 1990 and 2005, a diference of about 1.16 million ha. Mayuge District, where this study was conducted, is one of the districts that has had the greatest loss of woody species and has lost almost all its forest cover [3]. he reasons that lead to loss of trees are chiely land use change. In most parts of the world including Uganda land cover has been converted from woodlands or forests to create land for crop and livestock agriculture. he underlying cause for most of the land use change and consequently woody cover loss, in Uganda, is human population growth. he rapid human population growth estimated at more than 3% per annum has increased demand for land for cultivation and settlement, as well as woody products. In Uganda people exploit woody resources as ire wood, for timber and poles for construction purposes [4]. As an example of the level of woody species demand, over 95% of Uganda’s households depend on irewood and charcoal for their energy needs and 91% of all roundwood consumed is consumed as fuelwood [5]. It is this extensive consumption of tree products that leads to overexploitation and land cover change. he rapid loss of trees and shrubs threatens livelihoods that are dependent on those resources. Human populations, Hindawi International Journal of Forestry Research Volume 2017, Article ID 3046924, 9 pages https://doi.org/10.1155/2017/3046924