"Agroforestry refers to any of a broad range of land use practices where pasture or crops are integrated with trees and shrubs."
The practice of integrating trees with crops and/or livestock for multiple benefits, including soil fertility improvement, erosion control, biodiversity conservation, and climate change mitigation.
Agroforestry Principles: Understanding the basic principles of agroforestry systems, such as integration, diversity, and synergy.
Soil Science: Understanding the properties of soil, how to analyze soil fertility, and maintain soil health for agroforestry.
Tree-Crop Interactions: Understanding the interactions between trees and crops, including resource-sharing, competition, and complementarity.
Tree Management: Understanding how to manage trees for optimal growth, including pruning, fertilizing, and harvesting.
Agroforestry Design: Understanding how to design agroforestry systems, including layout, spacing, and species selection.
Sustainable Agriculture: Understanding the principles of sustainable agriculture, including conservation, efficiency, and productivity.
Integrated Pest Management: Understanding how to manage pests in agroforestry systems using sustainable methods, such as biological control and crop rotation.
Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation: Understanding how agroforestry can help mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change, such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing resilience.
Livelihoods and Rural Development: Understanding the relationship between agroforestry and rural livelihoods and development, including poverty reduction, food security, and economic growth.
Traditional Knowledge: Understanding the role of traditional knowledge in agroforestry systems, including indigenous practices, knowledge transfer, and cultural heritage conservation.
Alley Cropping: In this type, trees are planted in rows or alleys and crops are grown in between these rows. The trees provide shade, reduce wind damage, and improve soil fertility.
Silvopasture: This is a combination of trees and animals, where trees provide shade and forage for grazing animals.
Forest Farming: This type involves growing crops and products like nuts, fruits, and medicinal plants in a forest setting.
Windbreaks: In this type, trees are planted in rows to reduce wind damage to the crops. The trees also provide shade and improved soil fertility.
Riparian Buffers: In this type, trees are planted along riverbanks and other water bodies to improve water quality and reduce erosion.
Home Gardens: This type involves growing crops, fruits, and other food products in a home garden setting. Trees can be integrated into the garden for shade, soil improvement, and to improve biodiversity.
Multistory Cropping: This type involves growing crops on different levels, combining trees and shrubs with crops. This method can increase productivity and biodiversity while reducing erosion and pests.
Agrosilvopastoral Systems: This type involves the simultaneous integration of crops, trees and livestock, which produces multiple products and contributes to soil conservation.
Taungya Systems: This system is a variant of agroforestry, which combines agriculture with forestry. It involves the planting of tree crops in natural forests or reforested areas.
"This intentional combination of agriculture and forestry has multiple benefits, such as greatly enhanced yields from staple food crops, enhanced farmer livelihoods from income generation, increased biodiversity, improved soil structure and health, reduced erosion, and carbon sequestration."
"Trees in agroforestry systems can also produce wood, fruits, nuts, and other useful products with economic and practical value."
"Agroforestry practices are especially prevalent in the tropics, especially in subsistence smallholdings areas with particular importance in sub-Saharan Africa."
"However, due to its multiple benefits, for instance in nutrient cycle benefits and the potential for mitigating droughts, it has been adopted in the USA and Europe."
"Agroforestry shares principles with intercropping but can also involve much more complex multi-strata agroforests containing hundreds of species."
"Agroforestry can also utilize nitrogen-fixing plants such as legumes to restore soil nitrogen fertility."
"Enhanced farmer livelihoods from income generation"
"Increased biodiversity"
"Reduced erosion and carbon sequestration"
"Improved soil structure and health"
"Particular importance in sub-Saharan Africa"
"Enhanced farmer livelihoods from income generation"
"Greatly enhanced yields from staple food crops"
"Trees in agroforestry systems can also produce wood, fruits, nuts, and other useful products with economic and practical value."
"The potential for mitigating droughts"
"Reduced erosion"
"Reduced erosion and carbon sequestration"
"Particular importance in subsistence smallholdings areas"
"Agroforestry shares principles with intercropping but can also involve much more complex multi-strata agroforests containing hundreds of species."