UNIVERSITY OF ILORIN DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FORESTRY AND WILDLIFE AGY 206 Facilitator: Dr. Amusa

CONCEPT AND PRACTICES OF AGRO-FORESTRY

GENESIS OF AGROFORESTRY In the 1960s and early 1970s there was increasing concern for the forested lands of the tropics. It was clearly recognized that they were under severe pressure. Some thought that commercial exploitation was the problem; others believed that fuelwood needs were the culprit; while still others thought that shifting cultivation was the root cause. The President of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), located in Ottawa, Canada, engaged in 1975 Mr. John Bene, a retired forest industrialist in Canada, studied the problem.

GENESIS OF AGROFORESTRY The World Agroforestry Centre, International Centre for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF) has since been involved in the promotion of national agroforestry research programs, with a heavy emphasis on Africa. Agroforestry research has accelerated rapidly since the early 1980s and has resulted in a greater understanding of the science of agroforestry. Much of this understanding has come from observation of existing practices and systems, although an increasingly important knowledge base is being established through designed agroforestry experiments.

GENESIS OF AGROFORESTRY Agroforestry is neither an invention or a new concept. This Practice of combining tree species with crops had been practice in some form or the other in most of the countries. However, agroforestry as a new applied science of recent origin. With the increase in population of both cattle and human beings in geometrical progression and the land area remaining finite, there is no other alternative but to grow food , fodder, feed and fibre in an integrated manner in the same unit of land.

DEFINITION OF AGROFORESTRY As time passed, the definition proposed in the early 1980s by ICRAF (now known as the World Agroforestry Centre) gained wider acceptance. The definition, which was used from the early 1980s to the mid-nineties is as follows: AGROFORESTRY is a collective name for land-use systems and practices where woody perennials (trees, shrubs, bamboos, vines etc.) are deliberately integrated with crops and/or animals on the same land management unit. The integration can be either in spatial mixture or temporal sequence. There must be both ecological and economic interactions between the woody and non-woody components to qualify as agroforestry.

DEFINITION OF AGROFORESTRY Based on the suggestion of Leakey (1996), the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) now defines agroforestry as a dynamic, ecologically based natural resource management system that, through the integration of trees on farms and in the agricultural landscape, diversifies and sustains production for increased social, economic and environmental benefits for land-users at all levels.

Classification of Agroforestry Structure: this refers to the composition of the components, including spatial arrangement of the woody component, vertical stratification and temporal arrangement of the different components. Function: refers to the major function or role of the system, mainly of the woody components (which can be productive, e.g. production of food, fodder, fuelwood, and so on; or protective, e.g. windbreak, shelterbelt, soil conservation hedges, etc.). Socioeconomic nature: refers to the level of inputs of management (low-input, high-input) or intensity on scale of management and commercial goals (subsistence, commercial, intermediate). Ecological spread: this refers to the environmental conditions and ecological suitability of the systems on the assumption that certain types of systems can be more appropriate for certain ecological conditions (e.g. asset of agroforestry systems for arid and semi-arid lands, tropical highlands, lowland humid tropics, etc.

Structural Classification of Agroforestry based on Component Depending on the combination of these agroforestry components, THREE major agroforestry systems have been identified; namely: i) Agrisilvicultural systems: which consist of trees including shrubs and vines associated with crops; ii) Silvopastoral systems: these consist of trees, animals and/or pasture; iii) Agrosilvopastoral systems: these consist of trees, crops and animals or pasture;

Structural Classificaton based on Component iv) Other systems: combination of woody component with biotic life like fish, bees and wildlife form this separate category. Examples are Aquaforestry: which is the combination of fish production with trees. Trees have a considerable role in providing some of the nutrition required by fish. Apiculture: this is the science of bees and beekeeping. Bee production is supported by many tree species. There are various agroforestry practices under each of the agroforestry systems listed above. i.e. agrisilvicultural, silvopastoral and agrosilvopastoral systems.

DESCRIPTION OF AGROFORESTRY PRACTICES UNDER THE AGRISILVICUTURAL SYSTEMS Agrisilvicultural system is an agroforestry system which involves both the cultivation of crops and planting of forest trees on an area of land. Below are some forms in which agrisilviculture can be practiced: 1.Improved fallow: Woody species planted and left to grow during the 'fallow phase. 2. Taungya: Combined stand of woody and agricultural species during early stages of establishment of plantations. 3.Alley cropping (hedgerow intercropping): Woody species in hedges; agricultural species in alleys in between hedges; microzonal or strip arrangement. 4. Multiple green garden: Multispecies, multilayer dense plant associations with no organized planting arrangements. 5. Multipurpose trees on crop lands: Trees scattered haphazardly or according to some systematic patterns on bunds, terraces or plot/field boundaries.

DESCRIPTION OF AGROFORESTRY PRACTICES UNDER THE AGRISILVICUTURAL SYSTEMS 6. Plantation crop combination: (i) Integrated multistorey (mixed, dense) mixtures of plantation crops (ii) Mixtures of plantation crops in alternate or other regular arrangement (iii) Shade trees for plantation crops; shade trees scattered (iv) Intercropping with agricultural crops. 7. Trees in soil conservation and reclamation: Trees on bunds, terraces, raisers, etc. with or without grass strips; trees for soil reclamation. 8. Shelterbelts and windbreaks, live hedges: Trees around farmland/plots. 9. Home garden: Intimate, multi-storey combination of various trees and crops around homesteads. 10. Fuelwood Production: Interplanting firewood species on or around agricultural lands.

DESCRIPTION OF AGROFORESTRY PRACTICES UNDER THE SILVOPASTORAL SYSTEMS Within the broad category of silvopastoral system; there are several types of practices which can be identified depending on the role of the tree/shrub (sometimes collectively called “trub”) component. These include: Protein banks (Fodder tree banks), Trees and shrubs on rangeland or pastures, Live fences of fodder trees and shrubs (Living fences), Plantation crops with pastures and animals.

This practices is beneficial to the animals in the following ways: 1. Pastures may grow more as trees bring up limiting nutrients from below pasture rooting depth. 2. Trees may improve quantity and quality (e. g. protein, minerals, energy) of forage available. 3. Some light shade may help pasture growth and quality in dry areas by improving soil surface microclimate. 4. Trees may maintain forage supply when insects have attacked other pasture species. E. g. Army worm on para or carpet grasses (this occurs in every South Pacific countries at the same time).

5. Forage tree leaves are less trampled than those of creeping or erect pasture grasses and legumes. 6. By having shade beef animals grow better and diary cows produce up to 3 litres more milk in the humid tropics. 7. Wind and cyclone protection is provided by the trees. 8. Animals can eat tree fruits and pods.

DESCRIPTION OF AGROFORESTRY PRACTICES UNDER THE AGROSILVOPASTORAL SYSTEMS Examples of agroforestry practices under this system include: Homegardens (tree- livestock-crop mix around homesteads), etc.

Agrosilvopastoral system

OTHER SPECIAL AGROFORESTRY SYSTEMS These other agroforestry systems; which are sometimes referred to as minor agroforestry technologies include aquaforestry, apiculture, sericulture etc.

Sericulture: is the culture of silkworms Sericulture: is the culture of silkworms. Mostly, these silkworms are fed leaves of mulberry tree (Morus alba). Silkworms produce silk and several by-products, which can be used for many purposes: textile, fibre, soap, vitamins, medicine and others. Silkworms depend upon tree leaves for their normal growth and development.

Apiculture with trees: In this system various honey (nectar) producing trees frequently visited by honeybees are planted on the boundary of the agricultural fields. Bees and trees are interdependent, and have been perfecting their relationship for over 50 million years. Bees are a fantastic world resource: they are essential for sustaining our environment because they pollinate flowering plants. Bees also sustain our agriculture by pollinating crops and thereby increasing yields of seeds and fruits, and they provide us with honey, beeswax and other products – valuable sources of food and income. Trees do not just need bees for their own reproduction, but for the whole system within which the trees exist. The more species of fruit and seed generating within a system, the greater its biodiversity and the greater its life-carrying and life-enhancing capacity.

Aquaforestry: In this system various trees and shrubs preferred by fish are planted on the boundary and around fish ponds. Tree leaves are used as feed for fish. The main role of this system is fish production and bund stabilization around fish ponds. Four principal system types have been identified, classified by the land-use system in which they are found, i.e. 'natural' forest, plantation, silvoarable or agrosilvopastoral systems, further divided by diverse criteria solely as a means to group similar sub-systems

Examples of the varied use of tree products in aquaculture include: wood for boat building, tree products (foliage, fruit, processing residues) as an aquaculture feed, bamboo as a substrate in periphyton-based aquaculture systems, reeds (perennial woody species) for water filtration/purification, branches for fishing rods/poles, spears, clubs, drying racks, cages, floats and transporting fish,

branches and other woody material as structures for spawning or the raising of fry, firewood for post-harvest treatment (smoking) and cooking, tree fibres for nets and fishing lines, tree extracts for preserving fishing nets, tree extracts as piscicides/fish poisons, tree extracts for treating fish diseases.

a. Commercial Agroforestry systems SOCIO-ECONOMIC CLASSIFICATION OF AGROFORESTRY Based on socioeconomic criteria as scale of production and level of technology input and management, agroforestry systems have been grouped in to three categories. a. Commercial Agroforestry systems b. Intermediate Agroforestry systems c. Subsistence Agroforestry systems

ECOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION OF AGROFORESTRY A) Humid / sub humid B) Semiarid / arid C) Highlands

BENEFITS OF AGROFORESTRY SYSTEMS Agroforestry systems perform a multitude of services for farmers, for farms and for the environment as a whole: These services include: 1. Provision of food security 2. Conservation of soils, 3. Enhancement of soil fertility, 4. Improvement of microclimates, 5. Provision of living fences for crops and fruit trees,

6. Demarcation of boundaries, 7. Carbon sequestration, 8 6. Demarcation of boundaries, 7. Carbon sequestration, 8. Watershed stabilization, 9. Protection of biodiversity 10. Reclamation of degraded soils, 11. Weed control.

CHALLENGES OF AGROFORESTRY Lack of developed markets for products Unfamiliarity with technologies Lack of awareness of successful agroforestry examples Competition between trees, crops, and animals Lack of financial assistance Lack of apparent profit potential Lack of demonstration sites Expense of additional management Lack of training or expertise Etc.

Some solutions to these obstacles have already been suggested although many depend on particular circumstances which vary from one location to the next.

THANKS FOR YOUR AUDIENCE