Oxytenanthera abyssinica (A.Rich.) Munro is known to be one of the lowland perennial grass species in Ethiopia with tremendous products and ecological services. It is uncommon to find O. abyssinica at the homestead as it was commonly found in the study area as part of an agroforestry system. This study was conducted to assess socioeconomic benefits of O. abyssinica and factors that influence farmers' decision to use homestead agroforestry systems, based on a survey of 153 households in Serako kebele, Tselemti woreda, Ethiopia. This paper evaluates, using descriptive statistics, propensity score matching and logit regression analysis. The analysis demonstrates that farmers make decisions to grow O. abyssinica as homestead agroforestry systems based on household and field characteristics. The factors that significantly influenced growing decisions include homestead land holding size, total livestock owned, extension advice, and distance to local market. The average treatment effect (ATT) results show that the households with an O. abyssinica grower had significantly higher annual household income, annual expenditure, and number of months with enough food when compared to the control group. Therefore, we conclude that development of infrastructures that link producers with consumers, availability of large homestead land size, and expansion of extension facilities may enhance engagement of domestication of O. abyssinica at the homestead for sustainable livelihood options. IntroductionBamboo is one of the most commonly used natural resources by people all over the world and provides substantial benefits (Belay et al. 2013, Embaye 2003, Kigomo 2007, Ohrnberger 1999. According to Ohrnberger (1999), more than 1500 bamboo species are found in the Published: 03 January 2016 Ethnobotany Research & Applications 480http://dx.doi.org/10.17348/era.14.0.479-490In Ethiopia, in contrast to Asia, bamboo has been used traditionally as a raw material for building and making numerous household utensils, basketry, and handicrafts (Andargatchew 2008, Belay et al. 2013, Mekonnen et al. 2014. Nevertheless, recently a South African paper pulp company has invested in bamboo supply pulp fabrication ability in the country (NPSB 2013). Besides the rural income and employment opportunities, bamboo makes a significant contribution to ecological services (Belay et al. 2013, Krishnankutty 1998, Mekonnen et al. 2014, Nath et al. 2009). The natural bamboo forest is rapidly diminishing through indiscriminate clearing for agricultural expansion, mass flowering, and the lack of priority in its development, which together join forces to erode its numbers (Embaye 2000, Kigomo 2007, Mekonnen et al. 2014. This has led to reduction in O. abyssinica cover to make land available to agricultural expansion and overexploitation especially in the more accessible forest areas of northern Ethiopia (Embaye 2003, Gebrehiwot 2004. One of the options of increasing bamboo resources is domestication on farms as homestead agroforestry using available propagation ...