How is net gain of soil carbon in indigenous Ethiopian home gardens compared to that in mono-culture crop fields?

Ethiopian home gardens are a sustainable traditional agroforesty system that grows crops such as ensete (Ensete ventricosum) and coffee (Coffea arabica) that can coexist with various tree species to provide households with food, fuel and cash income, while protecting the soil and biodiversity. They can also enhance resilience to drought and contribute to mitigating climate change by enhancing soil carbon (C) sequestration. Soil C sequestration can provide additional economic benefits to communities by providing them carbon credits that can be traded in the global carbon market. By quantifying soil C sequestration as soil C gain and soil carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions as soil C loss in these sites, this study can determine the net gain of soil C in home gardens compared to that in mono-culture crop fields.