Farmers’ indigenous knowledge of tree conservation and acidic soil amendments: The role of “baabbo” and “Mona” systems: Lessons from Gedeo community, Southern Ethiopia

Figures & data

Figure 1. Map of the study area.

Table 1. Traditional belief systems associated with songo sacred trees

No.	Songo totemic tree species		Taboos (forbidding)	Beliefs and Rituals
	Botanical name	Local name
1	Cordia africana	Wodessa	Tree injuring/not allowed to be chopped for domestic use such as firewood or not allowed to place metal on tree trunk	Rain calling ritual done under songo trees or averting calamities by prayer under trees
2	Podocarpus falcatus	Birbirssa	Collecting deadwood/stealing property left under trees	Rain-calling ritual performed under trees
3	Croton macrostachyus	Mokenissa	Disturbing cultural elders gathering under these trees	Prayer under trees for good health
4	Ficus vasta	Qilixxa	No one pick a leaf/no axes or machete placed on trees	Trees could avert calamities or ill-luck (prayer and offerings preformed)
5	Syzygium guineense	Badessa	Not used as firewood or brought to the home	Thanks-giving ceremonies performed
6	Ficus sp.	Ode’ee	Disrespectful behavior or fact denying under tree	Prayer for bareness/fertility/blessing
7	*	Dhuggo	Respectful tree to perform rituals	Prayer for bareness/fertility/blessing

Source: Field-Work, 2019 (* scientific name is unavialble).

Table 2. Some selected baabbo tree species and its conservation reasons.

No.	The Baaboo tree/shrub species		Purposes of tree conservation within farms
	Botanical name	Local name	1	2	3	4	5	6
1	Millettia ferrunginea	Dhadhatto*	x	x	x	x		x
2	Cordia africana	Wodessa*	x	x			x	x
3	Ficus vasta	Ode’ee*	x	x				x
4	Veronia amygdalina Del.	Ebichcha**	x	x	x			x
5	Albizia gummifera	Goribbee*		x			x	x
6	Croton macrostachyus	Mokenissa*		x	x		x	x
7	Erythrinaabyssinica Lam Ex. Dc	Wollena*	x	x	x
8	Polyscias fulva (Hiern.)	Tala’a*	x				x	x
9	Prunus africana	Deegga*					x	x

Note: 1 = soil fertility improvement, 2 = shading, 3 = enset and coffee productivity, 4 = fodder, 5 = construction, 6 = fuelwood; vegetation representation: * (one star for tree sp.) and ** (two star for shrub sp).

Figure 2. The reasons for tree conservation and its’ conservation reasons.

Figure 3. ''Mona" or bedding place for livestock's (cattle and horses) for manure collections. (Source: The author, 2019).

Figure 4. The different sources of organic fertilizers used by farmers to increase soil fertility and acidic soil amendments. (Source: The author, 2019).

Figure 5. the preparation of manure and application system in the farm yields (Source: The author, 2019).

Figure 6. The flow chart showing an indigenous way of soil amendment and crop production systems. (Source: The author, 2019).

Figure 7. The production sources of organic manure or indigenous fertilizer (Source: The author, 2019).

Figure 8. The role of women’s and their contribution in manure preparation and spreading (Source: The author, 2019).