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It has been widely documented that the traditional farming system of shifting cultivation contributes to huge annual losses of forest cover, altering the structure and distribution of species resulting in loss of biodiversity. On the other hand, formal institutional approaches to natural forest biodiversity conservation focused on protecting the tree species in parks and reserves while neglecting their conservation in farming systems. Improved agroforestry systems (AFS) such as improved fallows that mimic shifting cultivation and other AFS provide benefits that contribute to rural livelihoods, improved socioeconomic status and ecosystem functioning of land use systems. Recently, there is an increasing recognition of the contribution of agroforestry to improve ecosystem services and livelihoods especially in rural areas. Compared with subsistence agriculture, AFS provides added benefit by generating cash income …