Background: Cultivation is the most appropriate management option when both demand and harvesting of wild plant species increase beyond natural production levels. In the current study we made the assumption that, besides the intrinsic biological and ecological characteristics of the species, the decision to cultivate and/or to conserve an overharvested wild plant species is triggered by the socioeconomic factors such as land tenure and size, origin of respondents, gender, and users’ knowledge of the plant phenology.

Agricultural intensification of rainfed agriculture (Demeke et al, 1996)– especially of the dominant crop-livestock systems in the Blue Nile basin, management of the natural resource base and poverty alleviation have long been the targets of a vast array of research and development initiatives in the region. Such efforts have ranged from those targeting specific biophysical aspects – crop, livestock or natural resource technologies, to those focused on policy issues to those with a more integrated and market oriented approach.

Assesses the effect (balance or imbalance) of the present relationships between the natural resource base and human activities; examines the role of some potentially destabilising forces, i.e, international markets, government programmes and socio-economic stratification; and reviews government's role in terms of its contributions to prudent natural resource management and options for the promotion of sustainable rural development.