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Introduction To Agroforestry
Introduction To Agroforestry
AGROFORESTRY
any sustainable land-use system that maintains or increases
total yields by combining food crops (annuals) with tree crops and/or
livestock on the same unit of land, either alternately or at the same time,
using management practices that suit the social and cultural
characteristics of the local people and the economic and ecological
conditions.
INTRODUCTION TO AGROFORESTRY
.
Nair (1993)
- 1960’s and 1970’s development as a course in graduate and
undergraduate course in many institutions worldwide.
King (1987)
- stated that unti the Middle Ages, degraded forest as a general
custom, slash and burn, cultivate food crops for varying areas on the
cleared area, plant or sow trees before, or after sowing agricultural
crops.
INTRODUCTION TO AGROFORESTRY
HISTORY
Wilken (1977)
- in tropical America many societies have stimulated forest
conditions to obtain the beneficial effects of the forest ecosystem.
Example: A farmer plant coconut with a lower layer of bananas, citrus, a
shrub layer of coffee or cacao, annuals of different stature
such as maize and a spreading ground such as squash.
INTRODUCTION TO AGROFORESTRY
HISTORY
death visit their villages too often, stay too long, and return too soon.
The miracle of the Green Revolution may have arrived, but, for
the most part, the poor farmer has not been able to participate in it. He
cannot afford to pay for the irrigation, the pesticide, the fertilizer, or
perhaps for the land itself, on which his title may be vulnerable and his
tenancy uncertain.
INTRODUCTION TO AGROFORESTRY
HISTORY
• Of the 14.17 million families, 5.75 millllion belongs to the lowest 40% income
group while 8.62 million in the highest 60% income bracket
• Uplands continue to be destroyed by:
1. Illegal logging
2. Encroachment of landless lowland farmers who migrated to the
uplands due to population pressure.
3. Land-grabbing activities
4. Slash and burn practices
Importance of the Uplands
1. People/Land Ratio
- migration of lowlanders to the uplands due to population pressure will
result to the saturation of the carrying capacity of the land.
- Saturation of the uplands will result to expansion into the forest and
watershed areas
2. Land Inheritance Patterns
- In the Philippines, it is customary to partition the land and distribute
equally among the children.
Development Issues
- Partitioning the farm/land into small lots will reduce the efficiency of the
farm
- Expansion into the forest is also a factor to be considered particularly
when the inheritor feels that the land he inherited is insufficient for
family’s needs.
3. Land Tenure
- Farmers do not usually own the farms they till.
-Farmers have expanded into the forest lands-”forest is public land”
-Land tenants/occupants are reluctant to institute permanent
reforms/projects
Development Issues
5. Education
-Need to restructure or refocus existing government educational
program or to develop new ones to make responsive to the uplands.
-Emphasis on the importance of the uplands to children’s mind
-Formal and non-formal education should be given appropriate
attention
Development Issues
7. People Empowerment
-involving local government units or people in planning, decision
making and project implementation
-Innovativeness is encouraged especially if they are in control of their
land and future.
Development Issues
9. Role of NGOs/POs
- play important role in the development of the upland particularly on
their livelihood
-Can penetrate communities due to security reasons.
Development Issues
1. Republic Act no. 8371 dated October 29, 1997 (The Indigenous People Rights
Act of 1997)
This law seeks to put into motion the constitutional provision for the State
to recognize and promote the rights of Indigenous Cultural Communities
(ICC) on their ancestral domains and ancestral lands.
The law provides that ICCs/IPs shall have priority rights in harvesting,
extraction, development, or exploitation of any natural resources
within the ancestral domains
Three Principal Responsibilities of ICCs/IPs
AFMA- urgent measures to modernize the agricultural and fisheries sectors of the
country in order to
• enhance their profitability,
• prepare the sectors for the challenges of globalization through adequate,
focused
• rational delivery of necessary support services.
AFMA focuses on the following principles:
1. Aqua-forestry
2. Apiculture
3. Sericulture
Classification of Agroforestry System
2. Sequential Agroforestry System – trees and crops occupy the same land unit
at different times and interaction between them is indirect.
a. improved fallows – enrich with fast growing trees, shrubs and vines
b. rotational woodlots – small areas of trees that can be used as fuel or
wood for buildings
Spatial Arrangement of Components in Agroforestry Systems
8. Water stabilization
9. Protection of biodiversity
10. Weed control
Description of Different Types of Agroforestry Practices under the Various
Agroforestry System
Alley cropping
1. deep rooted
2. fast growing
3. able to re-sprout easily after pruning, coppicing or pollarding
4. should be multipurpose
5. should be leguminous
Description of Different Types of Agroforestry Practices under the Various
Agroforestry System
Crop performance due to the added nutrients and organic matter to the
soil/plant system
Reduced use of chemical fertilizers
Improvement in the physical nature of soil environment
Reduction in erosion losses due to the tree rows acting as physical barrier to soil
and water movement
Additional products such as forage, firewood orstakes
Improvement of weed control
Description of Different Types of Agroforestry Practices under the Various
Agroforestry System