Eucalyptus in agroforestry: its effects on agricultural production and economics

The economics of eucalyptus in agroforestry and its effects on agricultural crops have been studied with the help of observations made during the harvests in agricultural fields and from the information supplied by progressive farmers. Three rotations of eucalyptus in agroforestry were selected for comparative study of its returns and relative loss to the crops, in order to ascertain the optimum rotation: i.e. the one giving the maximum internal rate of return with minimum loss to agricultural crops.     

Bioeconomic modeling in agroforestry: a rubber-cacao example

A rubber-cacao agroforestry combination was bioeconomically modeled for a forty year cycle. A number of scenarios were simulated to find the planting densities and management strategies that achieve best production and profit levels for each situation. This example is presented to demonstrate the possibilities and advantages of a simulation approach to agroforestry modeling.

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Programación En agrosilvicultura, una combinación caucho-cacao se modeló bioeconómicamente para un ciclo de cuarenta años. Se simuló un número de guiones para hallar las densidades de plantación y estrategias de utilización que conllevan la mejor producción y niveles de aprovechamiento en cada situación. Este ejemplo pretende demostrar las posibilidades y ventajas del método de simulación en modelaciones agrosilviculturas.

     

The role of extension in agroforestry development: evidence from western Kenya

The extension strategy used by the CARE International in Kenya Agroforestry Extension Project (AEP) is described. This strategy is evaluated in terms of documented changes in farmer's agroforestry practices and the importance of AEP relative to other changes in economic incentives, institutional support, and land use and tenure rules for agroforestry. The project served mainly to increase awareness of the multipurpose potential of agroforestry, expand available technical options, and strengthen local institutions. Its community-based extension approach was more suitable for local conditions than commodity-based, training-and-visit, farming systems, or media-based extension. Projects are encouraged to tailor extension design to local circumstances, use community participation to guide extension priorities, and use extensionists as catalysts and information brokers.Research undertaken while the author was a Principal Scientist at the International Council for Research in Agroforestry, Nairobi, Kenya.     

Analysis and evaluation of agroforestry as an alternative environmental design in the Philippines

Tabora, Panfilo C. Analysis and evaluation of agroforestry as an alternative environmental design in the Philippines.Agroforestry as a land-use concept and an environmental design was analyzed and evaluated from the Philippines setting. A historical perspective of agroforestry was presented and the study explores the direction that agroforestry has taken in recent years as a socio-economic tool, a conservation strategy and a political expediency.The concepts of agroforestry were analyzed and used as the bases for evaluation. Five general socially-oriented concepts were examined: social relevance (appropriateness); profitability; balance (equilibrium); versatility and creativity; and longevity and reliability. These were related to five agroecosystem principles: ecological integrity; productivity; stability; flexibility and resiliency; and sustainability and conservation. All these were interrelated to many attributes under a unified Agroecosystem Analysis Framework.Seven current programs in the Philippines which promote agroforestry were also examined and evaluated based on the Agroecosystem Analysis Framework. A closer look at the impacts of the programs was done and ratings were given for each program. The Multiple Cropping Program and the Integrated Social Forestry Program came out with the most positive results.For a closer focus, a site was selected and five cases from the site were evaluated based on a reconstruction of the events and experience in the area over 14 years. The Mixed-Crops Agroforestry (representing the ideal agroforestry) came out with a rating equivalent to the Coconut and Abaca-based Agroforestry. The Industrial Tree Plantation came out with the lowest rating.The study concludes that agroforestry has a role as an environmental design, but that its usefulness has limitations due to some physical constraints and social and economic values that have to be overcome. Recommendations are provided for policy-making for agroforestry.Portion of a study submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the State University of New York College of Environmental Science & Forestry, May, 1986.Presently Leader of the Diversification Program of the Honduran Foundation for Agricultural Research.     

Food,coffee and casuarina: an agroforestry system from the Papua New Guinea highlands

An agroforestry farming system is described from the Papua New Guina highlands (1400 to 2100 m) that has been developed by village growers since about 1960 and has expanded rapidly since about 1970. Major components of the system are numerous species of annual and perennial food crops (especially bananas), arabica coffee andCasuarina oligodon. It provides food, a cash crop and timber for construction and fuel. It is likely that returns on labour inputs are very favourable, but no formal assessments have been made. Evaluation of the system as a whole, and research on certain key components (casuarina ecology, banana cultivars, timing of operations) are suggested as high priority areas for systematic studies.     

Amazonian agroforestry: a market-oriented system in Peru

Most reports on indigenous agroforestry systems of the Amazon region have described patterns employed by tribal groups almost exclusively for their own subsistence. This article discusses a market-oriented cyclic agroforestry system practiced by non-tribal Mestizo farmers in Tamshiyacu, Peru. The system produces charcoal, as well as annual, semi-perennial, and perennial crops for local consumption, and for a regional market. The sale of these products provides a substantial cash income for many farmers. The data presented demonstrate that Amazonian cyclic agroforestry systems are capable of being commercially successful enterprises and of serving as possible models for further agricultural development.

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Resumen La mayoria de informes sobre sistemas agroforestales indígenas de la regíon amazónica han descrito formas utilizadas por grupos nativos casi exclusivamente para su subsistencia. Este artículo trata de un sistema agroforestal cíclico comercial empleado por agricultores mestizos en Tamshiyacu, Perú. Este sistema produce carbón, huertos anuales, semi-perennes y perennes para el consumo local y para el mercado regional. La venta de estos productos da un ingreso considerable a muchos agricultores. Los datos presentados demuestran que sistemas agroforestales amazónicos pueden tener valor comercial y servir de modelos eventuales para el desarrollo agrícola.

     

Policy and institutional support for agroforestry: an analysis of two Ecuadorian case studies

Institutional and policy issues are now recognized as high priority items in agroforestry research. However, such studies based on actual field experiences seldom seem to have been undertaken. To help address this deficiency, a study was undertaken in Ecuador to evaluate institutional and policy impacts on agroforestry dissemination using two field projects as case studies.The projects were in contrasting ecological locations: the Amazonian lowlands (the Coca Agroforestry Project), and the Andean highlands (the PROMUSTA project). The impact of policy and institutional constraints (such as land tenure, research and extension support, marketing and pricing, and credit) on the implementation of these projects was assessed based on interviews with farmers and project officials as well as analyses of secondary data. The Coca project was found to be adversely impacted by the lack of extension, product marketing, and credit availability. The principal institutional constraints for the Andean project included legal obstacles to farm-land procurement, inadequate extension, little state-financial assistance, and limited affordable credit. The relevance of these issues was location specific: while access to land was not a serious constraint in the lowlands, it was a major issue in the highlands.The study validates the premise that policy and institutional evaluations should become an essential component of design and implementation of agroforestry projects. Although the components of a sound policy framework might be similar in most developing-country situations, it may not be possible to evolve universally applicable procedures for agroforestry-policy formulation because of the location-specificity of the promoted systems and the institutional issue related to their adoption.Florida Agricultural Experiment Station Journal Series No. R-03861.     

Mapping the territory: agroforestry awareness among Washington State land managers

There is growing interest in research to develop potential agroforestry models for temperate climates. In Washington State, recent studies and anecdotal information suggest that agroforestry is already employed by land managers, and if so, this experience should inform future research efforts. Because this population is not well defined, a mail survey was designed to: 1) Assess Washington land manager awareness of agroforestry, 2) assess perceptions of agroforestry as a land management tool, 3) assess the perceived potential opportunities or obstacles for land managers to practice agroforestry, and 4) identify landowner groups believed to be practicing agroforestry in Washington State.Three groups of land managers were surveyed: employees of the Soil Conservation Service (SCS), Washington State University Cooperative Extension Service (WSUCE) and OTHER, consisting of university faculty, private land managers, State and Federal land managers and owners of small natural resource businesses.Agroforestry was not a new concept for most (94%) respondents, further 55% of those familiar with agroforestry were practicing agroforestry or providing advice to landowners who were practicing agroforestry. Use in (government mandated) soil conservation plans on farmland (100% of all respondents) was the most frequently cited potential application for agroforestry in the state followed by range and pasture land and managing non-commercial forest land (both 84%), use on commercial forest plantation (83%) and fruit and nut orchards (61%).Diversifies land use (25%), enhanced productivity (18%), aesthetics (13%) and income diversity (13%) were the four most frequently cited potential advantages to practicing agroforestry. Lack of information (28%), lack of technical assistance (18%), establishment costs (14%) and not an established practice (14%) were the most frequently identified potential obstacles to practicing agroforestry. Respondents suggested there is great potential for application of agroforestry throughout the state, and non-industrial private forest land owners were selected for future study of this potential.     

Observations on the rooting patterns of some agroforestry trees in an arid region of north-western India

The present study deals with root architecture of 6-year-old trees of 9 indigenous and 3 exotic species growing in arid climate of north-western India. Observations, made on excavated root systems (3 tree replicates of each species) showed large variation in horizontal and vertical spread of roots. In Morus alba, Melia azedarach and Populus deltoides, the roots were confined to 80 cm, while in Prosopis cineraria, Acacia nilotica and Eucalyptus tereticornis, roots penetrated more deeply to 233 cm. The number of total roots ranged from 103 in Acacia catechu to 1932 in Eucalyptus tereticornis, and 62 to 80% of the roots were less than 2 mm in diameter. The primary roots were more horizontal than the secondary roots. The total root biomass varied from 2.2 kg in Acacia catechu to 30.6 kg^–1 tree in Populus deltoides, and top 30 cm soil contained 42 to 78% of the total biomass. The implications of the results are discussed in the context of the ecological niche of the species, and its usefulness in agroforestry systems.     

Streuobst: a traditional agroforestry system as a model for agroforestry development in temperate Europe

The development of agroforestry for industrialised countries can be furthered by an understanding of the history and present functioning of traditional systems. In temperate Europe, fruit trees were traditionally grown on agricultural land undersown with crops or managed grassland (Streuobst). The historical evolution of this agroforestry system has been driven by the interaction of technical progress, market development and intervention by public authorities. Streuobst reached its peak in the 1930s, but has since been in continuous decline due to the development of intensively managed dwarf-tree orchards. However, even today, it still occupies approximately one million hectares in 11European countries and has a strong impact on the European fruit market. The profitability of streuobst is relatively poor due to its low labour productivity, but it has advantageous ecological and socio-cultural features, particularly in terms of biological diversity and landscape aesthetics. Accordingly, it finds strong acceptance among the general public, such that subsidised eradication programs have been abandoned and, in a number of countries, streuobst is now supported by non-governmental organisations and by state conservation policies. Modern agroforestry in temperate, industrialised countries should be oriented towards the creation of similar ecological and socio-cultural benefits in order to receive public support as a land-use system. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Farmer perspectives on agroforestry opportunities and constraints in cape verde

In the água de Gato Watershed on the island of Santiago, Cape Verde Islands, 51 farmers were surveyed regarding their attitudes and knowledge of agroforestry. The farmers identified eight constraints to agroforestry implementation, with virtually all indicating that a source of loan funds was the major concern. Space or land constraints and availability of tree seedlings were identified as constraints by 94% and 88%, respectively. Despite these concerns, 92% of the farmers expressed a willingness to adopt or improve agroforestry practices in the watershed, with 73% expressing a willingness to establish fruit trees, 53% willing to establish trees or shrubs for fuelwood, and 16% willing to plant trees for shade.     

Moderate discount rates and the competitive case for agroforestry

Various complementary and supplementary relationships between crop components may make agroforestry more valuable than either pure forestry or pure agriculture. However, agroforestry may be beneficial even under purely competitive relationships, provided that the value of growth potential accruing to the forestry component exceeds that accuring to the agricultural component, and the discount factor between beginning and ending of the crop cycle is sufficient to overcome this difference. A simplified model showed significant advantage to agroforestry at a moderate rate of discount. Relaxing the stated simplifying assumptions is unlikely to change this conclusion.     

Participatory technology development in agroforestry: methods from a pilot project in Zimbabwe

An on-farm agroforestry pilot project was initiated by the Zimbabwe Forestry Commission in 1988. The main objective of the project is to investigate a range of options to solve problems of woodland depletion faced by small-scale farmers. This paper describes the first two years of on-farm experimentation. The first season's trials are described, and the rationale for moving towards an approach of greater farmer participation in the research process is given. Steps taken to promote experimental tree planting on farms are described, and methods used are illustrated by examples from the project. Critical awareness-raising techniques, steamming from Freirian philosophy, have been central to the methods. The need for a partnership between formal and informal farmer-based research is discussed, as is a model for agroforestry research and development. The latter is proposed in a way that formal research develops the components of agroforestry practices, whilst farmers are encouraged to experiment with a combination of these components in order to develop practices appropriate to local conditions.     

On-farm agroforestry research in extension programmes: methods used by BAIF in India

The BAIF Development Research Foundation initiated an agroforestry extension project in Pune District, India in 1984, following earlier on-station research on leuceana-based alley-cropping systems for fodder. In extension meetings, farmers expressed a strong preference for planting a wide range of multipurpose trees on farm bunds and borders rather than single-species alley-cropping. Researcher-managed trials of proposed multipurpose species grown with crops were initiated, but were of limited value. An alternative approach to research was begun in 1988. This approach included a survey of agroforestry practices established by farmers through extension, and collection of data on crop yields by distance from the tree line from a sample of these plots. Research methods are described and modifications suggested for improving the quality of this type of extension-based research.     

The central agroforestry hypothesis: the trees must acquire resources that the crop would not otherwise acquire

A simple tree-crop interaction equation is re-interpreted in terms of resource capture. Benefits in physical yields from agroforestry are to be expected only when there is complementarity of resource capture by trees and crops. Most of the current biophysical hypotheses formulated for agroforestry research are based on this central tenet, specified for various resources, soil and climatic conditions.     

Forest villages: an agroforestry approach to rehabilitating forest land degraded by shifting cultivation in Thailand

The Forest village scheme was introduced by the Forest Industries Organisation (FIO) of Thailand in 1967 as an attempt to stop further spread of the fast increasing shifting cultivation and deforestation in the country. The underlying princple of the scheme is to relate reforestation with social welfare of the people involved. It is essentially a modification of the traditional taungya method of plantation establishment.The salient aspect of the scheme is to induce the shifting cultivators to settle down in villages where each family is given tenure over a plot of land to construct a house and develop a homegarden around it. The farmers are required to help establish and maintain forest plantations, in which they are permitted to raise agricultural crops during the first three years of its establishment. The farmers are also given free medical and educational facilities, and technical advice on crop and livestock husbandry. They can also earn cash rewards for successful plantation establishment.Although the scheme has not achieved its full target in terms of area covered and number of families settled, it is proving to be a successful method of luring people away from destructive shifting cultivation. The approach is applicable to other countries and regions with similar land-use problems and socio-cultural background.The paper also examines the constraints to the effective working of the scheme, provides some simple suggestions for improving its functioning and identies some of the issues that can easily be tackled by research.     

A bordered matrix approach to the bioeconomic modeling of agroforestry systems

A bordered matrix approach was developed as a technique designed to model multi-canopied agricultural or forestry production systems to find the optimal planting pattern and density meeting specified economic criteria. The approach uses monocultural production functions as a base from which to estimate polycultural production levels. A banana-cassava mixture is modeled to demonstrate how the technique can be applied.     

Comparison of the erosion control potential of agroforestry systems in the Himalayan region

The great erosion control potential of agroforestry systems is generally recognized. However, insufficient data are available to be able to give absolute quantitative values for the erosion control potential of specific agroforestry systems or to compare their potential. To obtain such quantitative erosion data, long-term standard erosion measurements should be done in specific agroforestry systems. Such measurements may become very costly because the data need to be collected in a wide range of agroforestry systems on different sites over a long time. A further constraint is the reliability of such information: erosion figures may not be comparable because of discrepancy between the scale of measurement and the scale of the agroforestry system and the occurrence of different kinds of erosion. The methodology presented here enables a quick comparative estimation of the erosion (surface erosion, gully erosion and mass movement) control potential of different agroforestry systems. The erosion control value of agroforestry systems is related to their protective functions: the cover, barrier and soil reinforcement functions. The methodology involves identifying which features influence these different functions within a specific agroforestry system and subsequently evaluating the efficacy. The applicability of this methodology is demonstated with examples from various agroforestry systems in the Himalayan region.     

Financial viability and conservation role of betel leaf based agroforestry: an indigenous hill farming system of Khasia community in Bangladesh

A study was conducted to investigate the cultural and financial management techniques of betel leaf based agroforestry system practiced in or near homegardens of Khasia community in Jaintapur Upazila in the district of Sylhet, Bangladesh. The Khasia is an educated community where 100% of Khasia people were literate, a stunning fact for this ethnic community in Bangladesh. The average family size in the study area was 7.68, with a ration of male and females of 141:100. The homegardens of the Khasia are rich in species composition, which 15 timber species, 22 horticultural species, six medicinal species, 13 annual crops including leafy vegetables, seven species of spices and five species of bamboo were identified along with betel leaf. The Khasia is an economically prosperous community with the minimum family incomes of Tk 4000 per month (Tk. 70=1 US Dollar). Betel leaf based agroforestry is very common being a prevalent source of income. About 95.45% of the households are involved in betel leaf husbandry. The mean annual income from one hectare of betel leaf plantation was estimated to be Tk. 80979. This practice was proven to be a profitable business where the benefit cost ratio was calculated to be 4.47. Moreover, the species composition in the betel leaf plantation area (the forest area once utilized by Khasia for shifting cultivation) was found to be very promising to play the significant role in conservation of biological diversity making the practice a sustainable agroforestry system.