FEATURE
By Nita Karume
A
groforestry is known as the
management and integration of
trees, crops and/or livestock on
the same plot of land. It has also been
proven to be an integral component of
productive agriculture. It may include
existing native forests and forests
established by landholders. It is a
flexible concept, involving both small
and large-sized land holdings.
In Africa, agroforestry farms and
landscapes have been proven to be an
important part of the continent’s rural
landscapes. For instance, the trees
on farm and in the landscape provide
income and environmental outcomes.
monocultures. Agroforestry systems
are continuously being adopted in
many parts of the continent and the
world at large.
Some of the known benefits of
agroforestry include but are not limited to:
Soil protection
The planting of trees amongst crops
helps control runoff and soil erosion,
thereby reducing losses of water, soil
material, organic matter and nutrients.
The trees can also maintain soil
organic matter and biological activity at
levels satisfactory for soil fertility.
However, this is dependent on there
being an adequate proportion of trees in
the system. Normally, it takes at least
20% crown cover of trees to maintain
organic matter over systems as a whole.
Trees are able to maintain more
favorable soil physical properties than
agriculture, through organic matter
maintenance and the effects of tree
roots. This, in turn, leads to more
closed nutrient cycling compared to
agriculture. As such, there is more
efficient use of nutrients.
When interplanted with crops, trees
Furthermore, the practice can be
used to ease the effects of climate
change as well as help mitigate
food security challenges. This makes
the practice important since many
parts of Africa have continued to
experience food insecurity, declines
in per capita farm income, as well as
land and soil degradation.
Benefits of Agroforestry
Over the past two decades, a
number of studies have been
carried out analyzing the viability
of agroforestry. The combined
research has since highlighted that
agroforestry can reap substantial
benefits both economically and
environmentally. This is through
the production of more output and
proving to be more sustainable
than forestry or agricultural
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