Modern Agroforestry Systems Research Articles

Integrating perennial staple food crops in agroforestry systems: A case study of chestnut (Castanea sp.) in Germany

In a time of multiple global challenges, trees gain more and more attention as an important component of sustainable land use systems, as they can produce food and provide multiple other ecosystem services at the same time. In Germany, traditional orchard meadows (so-called “Streuobstwiesen”) are in decline, although they are well known for their ecological value. In modern agroforestry systems staple perennial food crops seem to be rarely integrated. Here, we propose to use emerging chestnut cultivation for revitalizing traditional orchard meadows, diversifying forests, and integrating perennial staple food crops in modern agroforestry systems. In this study, we interviewed 64 chestnut growers in Germany and aimed to (1) explore characteristics of chestnut stands and management; (2) evaluate the main motivations, aims, and challenges of chestnut growers; (3) identify perceived outcomes of chestnut cultivation and measures for upscaling; and (4) analyze differences between groups of chestnut growers. Our results show that most growers aimed to increase tree numbers and foster the spread of chestnut trees as cultural assets. Sustainable food production was the motivation most often named by the respondents. A guide for cultivation, as well as better funding, were mentioned as the most wanted and easy to implement measures for up-scaling production and consumption. Junior chestnut growers were better connected to other chestnut growers and were more motivated by sustainable food production than senior growers. Pest and diseases as well as legal and funding situations were aspects hampering chestnut cultivation. We suggest that chestnut trees can serve as a valuable element of a diverse tree crop landscape providing staple food crops while supporting ecosystem services.

Agroforestry - Current situation and potentials

Agroforestry represents a complex multidimensional plant system, which in many of its forms integrates animal production. Such system represents a huge economic, ecological and social potential in the multifunctional management of forest and agricultural resources in the same area. The production of several different products in one place, enables the satisfaction of several different human needs such as: food, construction wood, firewood, non-woodproducts and fodder with a biodiversity improvement. Agroforestry is a complex system that requires a great knowledge from those who are involved in the establishment, management and sustainable use of products and services. In general, it can be said that there are two approaches to agroforestry: modern and traditional. In modern systems, the fulfillment of all functions of agroforestry systems is maximized at the highest level. Traditional agroforestry systems are characterized by multifunctional use of agricultural and forest resources in one place, but in an extensive form, without using new technology. In the Republika Srpska, there are agroforestry systems, dominantly in rural areas, which have a traditional character. In addition to traditional agroforestry systems, the first, exemplary, modern agroforestry systems that follow modern world trends are established. The potential for agroforestry in the Republic of Srpska is huge, considering the area of land and forests available, but at the same time the potential is not fully used, mainly due to lack of knowledge and undefined laws regardig to agroforestry. At the same time, there is a lack of knowledge about the value of agroforestry systems as well as a lack of knowledge about the establishment, modern management and sustainable use of such multifunctional plant (and animal) systems.

Existing agroforestry practices and their contribution to the socio-economic condition of the people of west Nawalparasi, Nepal: A case study

The modern agroforestry systems have the potential to improve livelihood through the production of food, fodder, and firewood as well as mitigation of the impact of climate change. Therefore, it's high time to study local people's perception towards agroforestry adoption and suggest potential agroforestry practices and their benefits for the upliftment of their livelihood. This research was conducted in Susta rural municipality, Pratappur rural municipality, and Bardaghat municipality of Nawalaparasi (West) district to explore the existing agroforestry practices followed by the people, its contribution to the economy of households, to understand the people's perception/attitude towards its adoption and finally to propose the potential agroforestry practices. Primary data were collected using Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) tools and secondary information through journals and reports. The analysis begins with distinguishing agroforestry systems and practices, preference of trees, benefits through these practices, people's perception, and problems regarding these practices. A total of 39 tree species and 30 food crop species were planted by 282 household people surveyed. Mangifera indica (relative prevalence 25.92%) is the most predominant fruit species whereas Dalbergia sissoo (relative prevalence 21.28%) is the most predominant timber species. It was found that the boundary planting pattern of the agroforestry system is most (40%) used by farmers of Parasi. The result demonstrated that agroforestry aids in the improvement of livelihood. Nevertheless, respondents have experienced increment incidences of pests and diseases to the annual crops and trees. Hence, the provision of training to improve the skills and knowledge of households seem to be the major need to flourish the agroforestry practices.

Learning from Agricultural Heritage? Lessons of Sustainability from Italian “Coltura Promiscua”

Agricultural heritage is gaining increasing importance as a repository of lessons to be learned for more sustainable agriculture in the future. Among the forgotten European agricultural heritage, the Italian grapevine “coltura promiscua,” which integrates agroforestry and intercropping, survives only in a few regions in the form of relics. Based on geographic, historic, agricultural literature published on the subject between 16th and 20th century with a focus on North eastern Italy, on previous fieldwork research, and on the analysis of recent candidacies to the Italian National register, this contribution identifies five principles that can be considered today as lessons of sustainability in agriculture: vertical intensification, spatial multifunctionality, resilience through crop diversity, labour-intensive production, personal/familiar/community attachment. Taken together, these principles describe a new rationality that seems to adapt to changed global and local conditions and can suggest new strategies to design new sustainable agricultural systems. The research suggests that sustainability principles can be found both by studying relics of agriculture heritage, and by carefully reading the literature that described them in the past, well before the concept of sustainability itself appeared in the scientific debate. Finally, this paper highlights some difficulties in practicing these lessons in modern agroforestry systems and suggests directions for future research.

Tree rows in temperate agroforestry croplands alter the composition of soil bacterial communities

BackgroundTree-based intercropping (agroforestry) has been advocated to reduce adverse environmental impacts of conventional arable cropping. Modern agroforestry systems in the temperate zone are alley-cropping systems that combine rows of fast-growing trees with rows of arable crops. Soil microbial communities in these systems have been investigated intensively; however, molecular studies with high taxonomical resolution are scarce.MethodsHere, we assessed the effect of temperate agroforestry on the abundance, diversity and composition of soil bacterial communities at three paired poplar-based alley cropping and conventional monoculture cropland systems using real-time PCR and Illumina sequencing of bacterial 16S rRNA genes. Two of the three systems grew summer barley (Hordeum vulgare); one system grew maize (Zea mays) in the sampling year. To capture the spatial heterogeneity induced by the tree rows, soil samples in the agroforestry systems were collected along transects spanning from the centre of the tree rows to the centre of the agroforestry crop rows.ResultsTree rows of temperate agroforestry systems increased the abundance of soil bacteria while their alpha diversity remained largely unaffected. The composition of the bacterial communities in tree rows differed from those in arable land (crop rows of the agroforestry systems and conventional monoculture croplands). Several bacterial groups in soil showed strong association with either tree rows or arable land, revealing that the introduction of trees into arable land through agroforestry is accompanied by the introduction of a tree row-associated microbiome.ConclusionThe presence of tree row-associated bacteria in agroforestry increases the overall microbial diversity of the system. We speculate that the increase in biodiversity is accompanied by functional diversification. Differences in plant-derived nutrients (root exudates and tree litter) and management practices (fertilization and tillage) likely account for the differences between bacterial communities of tree rows and arable land in agroforestry systems.

Integrating belowground carbon dynamics into Yield-SAFE, a parameter sparse agroforestry model

Agroforestry combines perennial woody elements (e.g. trees) with an agricultural understory (e.g. wheat, pasture) which can also potentially be used by a livestock component. In recent decades, modern agroforestry systems have been proposed at European level as land use alternatives for conventional agricultural systems. The potential range of benefits that modern agroforestry systems can provide includes farm product diversification (food and timber), soil and biodiversity conservation and carbon sequestration, both in woody biomass and the soil. Whilst typically these include benefits such as food and timber provision, potentially, there are benefits in the form of carbon sequestration, both in woody biomass and in the soil. Quantifying the effect of agroforestry systems on soil carbon is important because it is one means by which atmospheric carbon can be sequestered in order to reduce global warming. However, experimental systems that can combine the different alternative features of agroforestry systems are difficult to implement and long-term. For this reason, models are needed to explore these alternatives, in order to determine what benefits different combinations of trees and understory might provide in agroforestry systems. This paper describes the integration of the widely used soil carbon model RothC, a model simulating soil organic carbon turnover, into Yield-SAFE, a parameter sparse model to estimate aboveground biomass in agroforestry systems. The improvement of the Yield-SAFE model focused on the estimation of input plant material into soil (i.e. leaf fall and root mortality) while maintaining the original aspiration for a simple conceptualization of agroforestry modeling, but allowing to feed inputs to a soil carbon module based on RothC. Validation simulations show that the combined model gives predictions consistent with observed data for both SOC dynamics and tree leaf fall. Two case study systems are examined: a cork oak system in South Portugal and a poplar system in the UK, in current and future climate.

Transformation of jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam.) orchard into multistory agroforestry increases system productivity

A number of traditional and modern agroforestry systems are common in the agricultural landscape of Bangladesh. Jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam.) based agroforestry is one of them and predominantly found in terrace ecosystems. There is an enormous opportunity to improve the system through utilizing available space by growing compatible associated crops. For this, a jackfruit orchard was transformed into a multistoried agroforestry system during the period from 2012 to 2013, where jackfruit trees were kept as overstory, and associated crops, such as papaya and eggplant were grown as middle and lower story crops, respectively. In the improved system, jackfruit yield increased by 32.7% due to fertilizers and irrigation applied for the middle and lower-storied crops. Yields of papaya and eggplant were reduced by 22.8 and 17.4%, respectively, because of competition for both belowground and aboveground resources. For example, light interception by the middle and lower story crops were 55.5 and 30.8%, respectively. However, the total production per unit area (by combining the yields of jackfruit, papaya, and eggplant) in the multistoried agroforestry system was remarkably higher than the monoculture system for the same area due to intensive land use. The benefit–cost ratio and land equivalent ratio for the studied multistoried agroforestry systems were 5.47 and 2.59, respectively. These results suggest that the traditional jackfruit orchard could be transformed to multistoried agroforestry systems for its higher system productivity including higher yield, and increased income that ultimately will improve the livelihood of the farming community.

A sociopsychological analysis of agroforestry adoption in Flanders: understanding the discrepancy between conceptual opportunities and actual implementation

ABSTRACTWhile the opportunities of modern agroforestry systems are increasingly recognized by policymakers, consultants, researchers, and educators, the response of farmers to the recent subsidy program for alley cropping systems in Flanders is relatively low. Therefore, in this study, a mixed method technique, including a survey (n = 86), interviews (n = 33), and a GIS analysis, is used to better understand the reasons behind this implementation gap. The study showed that 55% of the Flemish farmers are not familiar with agroforestry and that the intention to engage in agroforestry is very low. As a result, alley cropping in Flanders remains sparse with only around 30 farmers known to be consciously engaged in the practice. In the last couple of years, these pioneers have installed one or more agroforestry plots (average surface area of 2.3 ha) that often combine a variety of trees with grassland. Whereas negative perceptions of Flemish farmers are mainly related to compatibility and profitability of such a farming system, pioneers consider legal issues, such as land tenure, the most pertaining drawback. Therefore, future research and policy and extension efforts should target these aspects in order to enhance further diffusion.

Latitudinal distribution, co-occurring tree species and structural diversity of the threatened palm Borassus aethiopum (Arecaceae) in Benin, West Africa

Background and aims – Borassus aethiopum Mart. is a wild palm species with high subsistence importance in West Africa. Extensive agriculture and overharvesting of its stem and fruits for multiple uses have caused a decrease of its natural populations in its native range. For conservation purposes, the distribution, abundance and structural diversity of the species were investigated across ten phytodistricts in three biogeographical zones in Benin. Two hypotheses were tested (i) tree floristic composition of B. aethiopum natural habitat changes with phytodistricts and (ii) structural diversity of B. aethiopum changes with phytodistricts, both as potential adaptation strategies to changing ecological conditions. Methods – Geographical coordinates of the species occurrence were recorded. Abundance was assessed in 852 one-ha plots. Structural diversity was studied using structural indices on data from ecological inventories and neighbourhood survey in 70 one-ha plots. Key results – The two hypotheses proved true. B. aethiopum was found in all phytodistricts but with strong variations in abundance. Overall, floristic composition of its natural habitats showed dissimilarities among phytodistricts. Three main vegetation types sheltered B. aethiopum : mixed grass and shrub savannas, savanna woodlands and woodlands, all of which were found in gallery forest landscapes. The density of B. aethiopum was lower in grass savannas but larger, shorter and distant individuals were found there than in savanna woodlands and woodlands. In the latter vegetation types, its density was high with thin, tall and closely spaced individuals. B. aethiopum tolerates mingling with several other tree species but increased mingling tends to lead to positive differentiation in diameter and height. Conclusions – Borassus aethiopum is a sun-demanding species and establishes successful populations in various ecological conditions. It could be mixed with other tree species in tree plantations and modern agroforestry systems as long as water requirements are met. However, it would be preferable that the species is associated with shade tolerant or medium sun-demanding species.

Erratum to: Agroforestry in Europe: a review of the disappearance of traditional systems and development of modern agroforestry practices, with emphasis on experiences in Germany

Agroforestry is a new name for a rather old practice. From a historical point of view, various agroforestry systems existed in Europe, of which the wood pastures (Neolithicum), the Dehesas in Spain (~4,500 years old) and the Hauberg of the Siegerland (established in the Middle Age) are the most prominent. Other widespread systems in Europe were hedgerows, windbreaks and Streuobst (orchard intercropping). Due to mechanisation and intensification of agriculture, trees have been progressively removed from agricultural fields and traditional agroforestry systems slowly disappeared. Today, agroforestry systems are again increasing in interest as they offer the potential to solve important ecological and, especially, biodiversity problems, while at the same time enabling the production of food, wood products and fodder for cattle. Although agroforestry systems offer many advantages, many farmers are sceptical of these systems and are critical and risk-averse with regard to adopting new practices. However, in comparison to traditional systems, modern agroforestry systems can be adapted to current farming practices. By selecting suitable trees and appropriate tree management, high-quality timber can be produced without influencing agricultural crops excessively. In future, agroforestry systems will become increasingly important as they offer the prospect of producing woody perennials for bioenergy on the same land area as food and/or fodder plants, while enhancing overall biodiversity.

Potentialities and uncertainties of novel agroforestry systems in the European C.A.P.: farmers’ and professionals’ perspectives in Italy

Agroforestry systems are traditional land use practices widely evident in different agro-ecological environments. In Mediterranean areas they comprised the most important cultural models until the introduction of modern industrialised agriculture. Further, the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the EU has dramatically promoted agricultural monocultures, with detrimental effects on agroforestry systems. Consequently, both tree presence across agricultural lands and the associated biological diversity have been progressively reduced. Recent research activities have highlighted interesting potentialities of modern agroforestry systems (silvo-arable systems) based on the intercropping of high quality timber species with arable crops. At present, CAP recognises agroforestry as sustainable land use practice and the current Rural Development Plans (RDP) are promoting novel agroforestry systems at farm level through the measure 2.2.2. The overall aim of the paper was to assess the potential interest in establishing and adopting silvoarable agroforestry systems at farm level. In order to reach this aim, the paper combined two different surveys: i) an on-farm survey was utilised to investigate farmers’ point of view concerning the adoption of silvo-arable systems in their farmlands in Central and Northern Italy; ii) an e-mail survey addressed to professional technicians, working as consultants in two Italian Regions (Umbria and Veneto), was utilised to evaluate their professional experience dealing with agroforestry and their attitude to promote agroforestry systems according to the measure 2.2.2 of the RDP. The results highlight the potential interest of farmers in establishing silvo-arable systems, although management constraints and economic uncertainty may strongly limit their effective adoption. From the point of view of the professionals, a lack of extension and training activities concerning agroforestry practices inhibits farmers’ participation in the measure 2.2.2. Finally, the contrast between measure 2.2.2 and the current CAP, based on the Single Farm Payment, is discussed.

Results of a project on development of agro-forestry systems for food security in Carrefour region, Republic of Haiti

Haity has a notable problem of food security, 48% of people have not sufficient food availability, food prices has doubled from 1980 and 1990 and further increased 5 times between 1991 and 2000. Water availability and quality is another problems to be added to food insufficiency. Food deficiency is mitigated by natural food resources in rural areas where many different species are cultivated together but it can be extreme in the towns. Agricultural systems are not efficient and, at the same time, enhance soil and genetic erosion. A development project has been implemented to increase food security over the long term in the geographical area of Carrefour rural area, this comprises a research aimed to increase national food production introducing complex agro-forestry systems. The project has investigated problems and solutions, actions have been started to increase food production, including agronomic training of local farmers, organization of small farmers including legal protection on land tenure, introduction of low input modern agroforestry systems that can diversify food production through the year and reduce soil and genetic erosion. After these results, an intervention project has been approved and funded by EU, then delayed due to the recent civil war, finally it is giving positive results now. The same approach used for this project can be spread in the rest of the Republic of Haiti and, hopefully, to other world regions that have similar problems.