Abstract            Volume:9  Issue-10  Year-2021         Original Research Articles

Online ISSN : 2347 - 3215 Issues : 12 per year Publisher : Excellent Publishers Email : editorijcret@gmail.com

Ethiopian coffee farmers have intercropped coffee with fruits, spices, enset, root and tuber crops, and grain legumes around their homesteads which is characterized by low plant population density. Crop diversifications of this type have been proposed as a viable option for mitigating the negative effects of conventional low-yield cropping systems, crop failure, and price volatility by making better use of growth resources and inputs. The purpose of this review was to summarize and document major achievements that have been recorded so far in coffee intercropping with food and cash crops in the country. Field trials revealed that, when planted in the proper combinations, intercropping has no effect on the growth and yield of coffee trees. Compact coffee cultivars were better suited for intercropping than intermediate and open coffee cultivars for long-term crop yield sustainability. When compared to pure stands, intercropped plots had a higher yield advantage. This was most noticeable in the early season for annual crops with a lower population of coffee trees. Similarly, the gross monetary benefits of intercropping coffee with banana, avocado, orange, potato, korarima, turmeric, ginger, yam, and grain legumes (soybean and haricot bean) outweighed the benefits of sole coffee plots. Coffee intercropping with locally adapted and compatible cash and food crops is generally agronomically beneficial and economically viable for small-scale coffee farmers in coffee growing areas of the country. Intercropping coffee with fruits, spices, enset, root and tubers, and grain legumes can thus be used as an important remedy to cure and boost productivity and economic return in the country's garden coffee production, depending on the suitability of the land and the priorities of the farmers.

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