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Agro Forestry in The Field PDF
Agro Forestry in The Field PDF
Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft
Ministry of Land and Confédération suisse
Environmental Protection(MoLEP)
DPR Korea Confederazione Svizzera
Confederaziun svizra
Published by the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF)
Copyright © 2013 World Agroforestry Centre
ISBN 978-92-9059-333-1
Terms of use: This publication may be quoted or reproduced without charge. The copyright
holder requests acknowledgement and a copy of the publication where the citation or material
appears. No use of this publication may be made for resale or other commercial purposes.
Citation: Xu J, Mercado A, He J., Dawson I (eds.) (2013) An Agroforestry guide for field
practitioners. The World Agroforestry Centre, East Asia, Kunming, China. 63 pp.
Technical editors: Jianchu Xu, Agustin Mercado, Jun He, Ian Dawson
Illustration: Jiankun Yang
Layout: Dharma R Maharjan (Graphic Design) +977 984 1245 170
Printing in Kunming
An Agroforestry Guide
for Field Practitioners
Editors
Jianchu Xu, Agustin Mercado, Jun He, Ian Dawson
January 2013
Contents
Foreword
The emergence of agroforestry as a sloping land management practice in DPR Korea highlights
the growth of technology innovations together with user group processes. A user-friendly,
bottom-up participatory process is facilitated by technicians and forest rangers and explores
new opportunities for the development of locally appropriate technology through interactive
learning processes.
This manual provides both proved concepts and good practices for field practitioners to
integrate agroforestry into land restoration in general and sloping land management in
particular in the DPR Korea. The examples documented in this book are based on a ten-year
Sloping Land Management (SLM) project in DPR Korea. We will continue to enhance the
capacity of field technicians, user groups and other governmental agencies to work together
developing new knowledge, innovations and practices for agroforestry in sloping land
management.
Weiersmueller Martin
Director of Cooperation
Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation
Programme office Pyongyang, DPR Korea
1
1
Introduction
Introduction
1
1.1 Agroforestry guide for what?
Agroforestry is a traditional practice of integrating trees with crops and/or animals.
Agroforestry is gaining increasing recognition as a way to restore degraded sloping lands, to
contribute to food security and for economic development in DPR Korea.
Agroforestry can greatly help to transform landscapes where trees are a keystone of
productivity and thus deliver multiple benefits for humans and ecosystems.
This guide contains a set of technical illustrations that provide practical, user-friendly
information for planning a variety of agroforestry practices. It is particularly concerned with
field-level interventions for sloping land management, an issue of concern in DPR Korea.
Guidebook users
Introduction
3
1.3 How to use this guide?
This guide does not provide ready-made recipes, but offers advice on how to integrate trees
and agroforestry practices into land restoration in general, and in sloping land management in
particular, in DPR Korea. Its aim is to help extension workers and farmers formulate their own
knowledge, innovations and practices for the specific conditions they face.
The guide also takes stock of good practice and success stories from locally and aboard, as well
as lessons learnt from failures.
The guide is designed as an entry point primarily for field practitioners. In cases where
agroforestry is completely absent in current field practices, it may be used to initiate a
participatory planning process for the incorporation of trees in farms and sloping lands. The
purpose is to assist in sustainable economic development and environmental protection in DPR
Korea.
While the number of trees in natural forests is steadily declining, the number of trees on
farmland is increasing. In many parts of the tropics, agroforestry is providing essential products
and services that can help relieve the pressure on the natural forest domain.
Pine + oak
Animal manure
Fruit trees +
Home-garden Cover crop
+ livestock
Hedgerow +
Food crops
Seeds/seedlings
Introduction
5
1.5 Why agroforestry?
1.5.1 To produce
For Korean farmers, well managed agroforestry systems on sloping lands provide food, fiber,
fodder, fruit, construction materials, medicine, honey, dyes and resin/gum, among other
products. They also provide cultural and household utility items, bush meat from hunting and
trapping, and products for sharing and barter among community member. Planted trees can
also improve soil fertility and therefore support the production of staple crops and enhance
food security in this way.
Fiber
Construction
materials
Sloping Land Management Dyes &
resin
Household
utility items
Culture
Hunting/
trapping
Sharing/
barter
Agroforestry: a
broad-scale answer to
sloping land issue
Introduction
7
1.6 Why agroforestry extension?
The main purpose of agroforestry extension is to help people to examine problems which
are affecting their lives and the landscapes they inhabit to consider if these problems may be
solved, or at least alleviated, by using agroforestry techniques, within the range of their skills
and financial resources.
The contribution of agroforestry extension is initially to facilitate discussion and the definition
of needs, and to indicate a variety of possible courses of action from which local people can
select those most suited to their particular situation.
The fundamental aim should be to assist people to take appropriate measures for themselves.
The objective is to allow communities to develop a genuinely critical view of their own situation
and to have a realistic insight into their ability to take the necessary steps to implement useful
change.
Sustainable sloping
land management
systems
Local Government Units Extension Technicians
� Provide policy support and appropriate incentives � Share information on appropriate technologies
� Provide financial and material support � Facilitate group formation and development
� Complement technical and facilitation needs � Provide IEC programs
� Provide capacity building programs � Provide capacity building programs
� Provide network support
A strong 3-way partnership: the triadic approach
2
Agroforestry
Practices
Agroforestry Practices
9
Features of Agroforestry System
2.1 Classification agroforestry
Agroforestry systems may be classified based on the following criteria:
zz On a structural basis: this refers to the composition of the system and the arrangement of it
in space and time. Adding woody species into different niches (different parts of farms and
the agricultural landscape) can increase diversity, sustainability and productivity.
zz On a functional basis: this refers to the role or use of the tree component, such as timber,
fruit, fodder, medicine. Typically, the inclusion of trees increases the number of products
generated by the system, which then acts as a safety net for farmers. Services such as the use
of trees as windbreaks and to prevent soil erosion may also be important in addition to tree
products.
zz On a socioeconomic basis: this refers to the purpose of the system with regard to human
livelihoods, usually broken down into subsistence, commercial, and/or intermediate
production systems. Agroforestry may be promoted to meet specific social goals such as
poverty alleviation and food security.
zz On an ecological basis: this refers to the suitability of the agroforestry system for a given
environment. Thus there are different types of agroforestry for tropical, temperate and arid
environments that take into account the environmental, ecological and biological conditions
of each area.
� Humid tropics 2
� Highlands
� Subhumid tropics
� Semiarid
� Sahel
Spatial Temporal
� Mixed � Coincident
� Strip � Concomitant
� Boundary � Overlapping
� Sequential
� Interpolated
Agroforestry Practices
11
2.2 Factors that influence agroforestry development
A ‘one-model-fits-all’ approach does not works for agroforestry because of the diverse
biophysical and socioeconomic conditions under which systems can be developed. Factors that
influence users’ decisions and the selection of particular practices include:
zz Government policies and incentives, and rules and regulations, on agriculture and forestry
zz The tenure of land, crops and trees, which determine whether it is worthwhile for farmers to
plant trees and who benefits
zz Technical support and extension services for the supply of inputs (including seed, fertilizer,
information on tree management, etc.) and for market delivery (including methods and
information on value addition, markets, etc.)
zz Access to markets, including distance to different markets, road infrastructure, the ability to
undertake sales through cooperatives and the possibility of engaging in barter trade.
zz The user group profile, including particular needs from agroforestry (food, cash, medicine,
etc.), specific skills and traditional practices, labor availability, the level of education, and
peoples’ aspirations and expectations
zz Biophysical conditions, including climate, soil type, slope, soil and water availability, etc.
Agroforestry Practices
13
2.4 Agroforestry production components
These include different elements whose presence can be complementary and reinforcing if
managed in the right way:
zz Trees for fruit, fodder, fuel wood, timber and other products, and for services such as soil
fertility replenishment. Trees normally remain in the landscape for a number of years with a
rotation length perhaps in decades.
zz Annual crops such as grains, tubers, roots, vegetables, mushrooms and flowers. The rotation
for crops is generally much shorter than for trees.
zz Animals for draft power, dairy, meat and egg production, and fish, snails and other
organisms for eating.
Wind
Wa
te r
Shade Browse
Livestock
and pasture
Soil
conservation
Wind
Organic
matter
Nutrients
Shade
Moisture
N-fixation Moisture
Nutrients Cut-and-carry
Nutrients
browse
Nitrogen fixation
and uptake
Nutrient cycling in agroforestry system
3
How to Design
Agroforestry
Practices
How to Design Agroforestry Practices
15
How to design agroforestry practices
4. 5.
Trying Sharing
things out the results
Monitoring
3. 6.
Designing & Keeping up
field planting evaluation the process
2. 1.
Looking for Getting Innovative capacity,
things to try started knowledge and
Practices of farmers
Different sketch maps of the planned layout can be drawn before field implementation.
User groups document and monitor the performance of tree species in different production
circumstances with the support of the project team. This provides for a mutual learning process
of what works. Farmers and user groups are thus involved in generating economically and
environmentally sound technologies for land use.
During field implementation, material support, including fertilizer, tools and fencing will be
provided by the project.
Managing the
Agroforestry
System
Managing the Agroforestry System
23
4.1 Crop diversification
One of the most important aspects of agroforestry is diversification. Benefits include a wider
range of food products to eat and sell, improved nutrition, and the ability to spread risk in
production due to varying weather including floods, drought, etc.. Since different species
occupy different spaces in the system, their production can be complementary (overall
yields are greater for the system as a whole than if one species only was present) and even
synergistic (total yields are greater than the sum of the individual components if they were
grown separately). Diversification can also reduce the risk of pest attack. These benefits are
not however automatic – it all depends on what range of trees, crops and animals are brought
together.
Mini forest
Fuelwood plantation
Groundnuts
Maize/mungbean Rice/tobacco/vegetable
Pasture
Upland rice
Fruit trees
Vegetables
Aronia
Mulberry
Mulberry
Aronia
Aronia Aralia
Livestock
Home garden
20 meters
Tree crop Tree crop Tree crop
Perennial crops
4
Soil and water conservation along the landscape
Trainings
Research
Facilitation
NGO/Private sector
Markets
Other govt.
sectors
User group Other user groups
Other
private service
providers
Do’s Don’t’s
zz Behave as a guest. Respect people and zz Do not interview dominant groups only
their privacy (men tend to dominate)
zz Treat local people as equal partners zz Do not ignore disadvantaged groups (e.g.
zz Show your interest for local customs the very poor, the disabled)
zz Present yourself and your purpose at the zz Do not ask leading questions
beginning of a meeting zz Do not dominate discussions
zz Adapt to the time schedule of your hosts zz Do not manage people and their time
zz Be patient and a good listener according to your own interests or to an
zz Encourage local people to express their outside time schedule (e.g., rushing to eat
idea in their way with officials)
zz Encourage people to draw and map zz Do not judge local customs as bad, strange
problems visually or negative
zz Promote group participation and zz Do not push people to use particular tools
discussion, but do not force people to to express their views in order to obtain
participate quick results
zz Seek input from different groups (the old, zz Do not damage the local environment but
women, etc.) rather treat it with respect
zz Encourage disadvantaged group to speak zz Do not get drunk in the community or
out and express their interest and ideas otherwise cause offence by being culturally
zz Ask for permission if you want to take insensitive
photos. Show these to villagers later zz Do not forget to show appreciation for
peoples’ time
zz Do not ‘over promise’ on the possible
contributions that are possible to solve
problems
6
Good communication skill is essential for extension
Ecosystem
Agroecosystem
B
Scientist
Cosmos
D D
Knowledge
ices
Pract
Institution
Farmers
Linking local knowledge and scientific knowledge systems
The introduction of the participatory extension approach in the last decades represented the
reversal of the traditional ‘top down’ agricultural research and extension pathway. It requires
an equitable partnership between rural people, researchers and extension workers, and
recognizes the importance
of rural communities
as actors in the entire
process. Methods and
terms adopted under this
approach that are found
in the literature include
participatory action
research (PAR), farmer
participatory research
(FPR), participatory
technology development
(PTD), participatory rural
appraisal (PRA; mentioned
above and see also more
below) and farmer field
schools (FFS). All of these
methods share elements of
participatory research and
extension. 6
Farmers researchers, and extensionists must all contribute their
specific knowledge, skills and experiment jointly
zz Trainer is more knowledgeable and zz Both trainers and trainees are knowledgeable
experienced than students. and experienced.
zz Trainer shares her/his knowledge zz Everyone must reflect on her/his own, then
with the students by lecturing share their ideas, experiences, and expertise.
zz Farmers are passive, just listening and zz Trainees are active and analytical, asking
taking notes. questions and exploring alternatives.
zz Farmers learn the right answer from zz Trainees develop their own answers. Indeed,
their teachers there many be many different answers.
zz Finding sustainable solutions for improving yields and farmers’ incomes: a trial is a research
process with farmers that is designed to find better practices than those used currently. This
involves testing a range of different possible options against controls
zz Collecting information on local farmers’ practices: a trial may involve the observation
of typical practices in farmers’ plot to determine which are the technical constraints in
production
zz Enabling the sharing of local knowledge: agroforestry trials should recognize the role of
local knowledge in management, collect this knowledge and stress its value, in order to
engage farmers in the agroforestry development process. Trials should facilitate farmers’
discussions on management issues and observe the adaptation of a technology in a local
context.
6
Farmers server as both agroforestry researchers and practitioners