Agroforestry: An Application of the Farming Systems Approach to Forestry

Abstract

While agroforestry is fairly recent as a research focus, the integration of forestry and other agricultural activities is a well established indigenous practice in many parts of the world. As such, it is a tested technology which can be adapted to economic and -. environmental development goals in order to avoid the problems of structural incompatibility often associated with the introduction of modem production techniques. Since the interactive benefits of agroforestry systems are often not immediately apparent, a holistic interpretive framework for on-farm activities such as the Farming Systems Research (FSR) methodology is necessary to understand or suggest adaptations in these systems. This paper outlines the biological contribution of trees on farms, and describes some common agroforestry systems in Costa Rica. As an example of how an FSR approach can be used in the analysis of agroforestry systems, a recent analysis of farmer motivations for participation in a fuelwood plantation project in Piedades...