Modules on Sustainable Agriculture MOSA Agroforestry Patrick Worms
Modules on Sustainable Agriculture MOSA Agroforestry Patrick Worms, World Agroforestry Centre (WAC), August 2015 Page
Key questions • What is agroforestry? • Why working with and promoting agrorestry for sustainable development? • Obstacles to agroforestry promotion? • Fields of action Page 2
The Challenge: “by 2050, we need to… • Double world food production on ~ the same amount of land • Make farms, fields and landscapes more resistant to extreme weather, while… • … massively reducing GHG emissions. ” Page 3
Prevalence of trees on farms Page 4
… and people cohabit everywhere. Global population density. Page 5
1 What is Agroforestry?
“Agroforestry is a collective name for land-use systems and technologies where woody perennials (trees, shrubs, palms, bamboos, etc. ) are deliberately used on the same land-management units as agricultural crops and/or animals, in some form of spatial arrangement or temporal sequence. In agroforestry systems there are both ecological and economical interactions between the different components (Lundgren and Raintree, 1982). ” Page 8
Various forms of agroforestry systems Alley cropping (©WAC) Simple systems e. g. Complex systems: Alley cropping Function like natural forest ecosystems but are integrated into the agricultural management system (C. Mbow et al. , 2014) Intercropping Hedgerow systems … Faidherbia albida (©WAC) Page 9
Modules on Sustainable Agriculture MOSA 2 Agroforestry Why working with and promoting agrorestry for sustainable development? Page 10
Trees in agroforestry systems … …Fruit trees, timber trees, medicinal trees, commercially important species, fertilizer trees…. • Products: Fruits, timber, wood energy, carbon, medicinal plant products, animal fodder… …enhancing LIVELIHOOD of farmers: product diversification, improved nutrition, health, income. . . • Environmental service: Enhancement of local climate, soil properties, biodiversity, ecosystem‘s resilience Page 11
Average nitrate leaching Agroforestry Agriculture Forestry Source : INRA Restinclières, France Source: Dupraz, C. and Liagre, F. ( 2014). Source: CIMMYT Page 12
Mitigation potential of selected agroforestry systems Mbow (2012) Page 13
Ways in which trees build resilience • • • Soil restoration: • more SOC, richer soil microbiology, enhanced percolation, less erosion, less degradation Soil fertility: • more SOC, more N if legumes, nutrient pump Increased carbon accumulation • 2 -10 tons of CO 2 -eq. per hectare per year are common Higher biodiversity: • More niches for pest predators Lower input requirements: • fewer pesticides, fewer fertilisers Better, crop yields: • more soil organic matter, better plant nutrient availability, protective microclimate • • Higher productivity: • better use of water, nutrients, light Better nutrition: • fruits, fodder, multi-crop system support Livestock farming: • fodder, shelter Weather resilience: • roots pump water, trees offer shade and windbreaks Insurance & savings: • One off timber sales Income diversification: • crops, fuel, fodder, timber, fruits Reduced deforestation: • more tree products sourced offforest Flood control & water recharge: • Marketable environmental service Page 14
Land equivalence ratio (LER) Page 15
Semi arid tropics: Malawi yield (t/ha) Maize only 1. 30 Maize + fertilizer trees 3. 05 Survey of >200 farms in six districts in 2011 (Mzimba, Lilongwe, Mulanje, Salima, Thyolo and Machinga) Gliricidia, a leguminous coppice tree, interplanted with maize. The leaves are cut and turned over into the topmost soil layer, providing nitrogen and other nutrients. Page 16
Fertilizer trees can outperform NPK 2009/2010 season; data from 6 Malawian districts Farmer plot management Sampling Frequency Mean (Kg/Ha) Standard error Maize without fertiliser 36 1322 220. 33 Maize with fertiliser 213 1736 118. 95 Maize with fertiliser trees 72 3053 359. 8 3071 264. 31 Maize with fertiliser trees & fertiliser 135 Mwalwanda, A. B. et al (2010) Page 17
Faidherbia albida Trial Results in Zambia Maize yield - zero fertiliser (tons/ha) 2008 2009 2010 With Faidherbia 4. 1 5. 6 Without Faidherbia 1. 3 2. 6 Number of trials 15 40 40 Conservation Farming Unit, Zambia (©WAC) Page 18
Modules on Sustainable Agriculture MOSA 3 Agroforestry Obstacles to agroforestry promotion? Page 19
… then why this? Investment in agroforestry research Investment in conventional agriculture research Page 20
Limited farmer‘s adoption 1. COST 2. INSECURE LAND TENURE 3. POOR BUSINESS MODEL 4. SKILLS 5. OUTPUT VARIATION (©WAC) Page 21
Limited investments 1. Science of complexity 2. Context specific 3. Institutional, social, political infrstructurtal, legal and market forces Page 22
Modules on Sustainable Agriculture MOSA 4 Agroforestry Fields of action Page 23
Realising the potential of agroforestry requires: 1. Sustained commitment to making agroforestry systems more context-specific. 2. Marketing and advertising partnerships. 3. Rural credit and financing systems. 4. Markets for tree products. 5. Addressing remaining labour limitations. 6. Developing and implementing innovative tenure systems. 7. Boosting tree seeds and germplasm reproduction and distribution. 8. Expand the capacity of extension services to promote contextspecific agroforestry. Page 24
Modules on Sustainable Agriculture MOSA Further reading Coe, R. , Sinclair, F. and Barrios, E. (2014): Scaling up agroforestry requires research ‘in’ rather than ‘for’ development. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability. Dupraz, C. and Liagre, F. (2014): Agroforesterie: des arbres et des cultures, 2 dn edition. Editions France Agricole. Leakey, R. (2012). Living with the trees of life: towards the transformation of tropical agriculture. CABI. ISBN 97817800640990. Lundgren, B. O. and Raintree, J. B. (1982): Sustained agroforestry. In: Nestel, B. (ed. ). Agricultural Research for Development: Potentials and Challenges in Asia, pp. 37 -49. ISNAR, The Hague, The Netherlands. Mbow, C. et al. (2014): Achieving mitigation and adaptation to climate change through sustainable agroforestry practices in Africa. In: Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 6: 8– 14. Mwalwanda, A. B. et al. (2011): Impact of Fertilizer Trees on Maize Production and Food Security in Six Districts of Malawi. World Agroforestry Centre. Ramachandran Nair, P. K. (1993): An introduction to agroforesrtry. ICRAF. Dordrecht, Netherlands. Kluwer academic publishers. Page 25
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