Agroforestry

Agroforestry is a term used to designate land management systems that combine woody species (typically trees, palms, bamboos, and shrubs) with agricultural crops. The combination may be concurrent (both woody and crop species organized spatially, such as by intercropping), or occur in temporal succession (agricultural crops succeeded by woody species or vice versa); and in some cases it also may incorporate animal species. Various forms of agroforestry have long been practiced in diverse regions of the world; perhaps the best known examples come from studies in Asia, Latin America, and Africa.

Combining agriculture with the cultivation of tree species can have ecological, economic, and social benefits. Ecological benefits include the at least partial replacement of vegetative (tree) cover in agricultural areas to resemble the natural structure and diversity of the local forest. Restoration of vegetative cover can cause or be accompanied by improvements in soil organic matter, texture and moisture capacity; reduction in soil acidity and salinity; improved nutrient availability and cycling; and nitrogen fixation when involving leguminous species. Often, increased levels of biological (species) diversity are reported in agroforestry systems. Economic benefits include both efficiency and stability in production processes and the producton of a diversity of commodities, including food, medicines, construction materials, soil conservation, and protection.

Many proponents claim that agroforestry systems better utilize labor and tools and support a more diverse set of land management practices than either agricultural or forestry activities alone. Aside from various crop, fruit, and timber tree species, such activities may include aquaculture (fish farming), apiculture (beekeeping), or livestock farming. While some researchers consider swidden (slashand-burn) agriculture to be one form of agroforestry for its temporal sequence of forest-cropfallow-forest, others view agroforestry systems that incorporate the planting of leguminous species as a more sustainable production process that lessens the need for fallows. Agroforestry systems take diverse forms, and may include home gardens, enriched fallows, tree-crop combinations in fields, or mixed fruit trees in orchards.