Intercropping of Arabica Coffee (Coffea Arabica L.) with Korerima (Aframomum Korarima) in South Western Ethiopia

Abstract

Study of coffee intercropping with Korerima (Aframomum Korarima) was conducted at Jimma and Gera, southwest Ethiopia, with the objectives to evaluate the agronomic and economic benefits of the practice. Coffee variety compact canopy 74165 and local korarima clone was used as planting material, the experiment holds six treatments arranged in a randomized complete block design with three replications. The results show that intercropping did not significantly affect growth and yield of coffee trees. However, higher coffee yield advantages were found from sole plots as compared with intercropped coffee plots followed by staggered plot at both locations. Mean yield of Korerima over the study period were significantly (p < 0.01) higher for sole stands than intercropped plots. The land equivalent ratio also depicted the yield advantage of growing coffee together with Korerima. As a whole, the research findings reveal that coffee intercropping with Korerima was found to be agronomically and sparingly feasible in the southwest Ethiopia. Hence, based on the suitability of the area and the priority of the farmers, coffee intercropping with Korrerima can be practiced as an important remedy to increase crop production and economic returns to user in farm diversification of coffee production system.

Keywords; coffee yield, Intercropping, Land equivalent ratio, sole cropping