Agroforestry

Agroforestry is a land use management system in which trees or shrubs are grown around or among crops or pastureland. This intentional combination of agriculture and forestry has varied benefits, including increased biodiversity and reduced erosion. Agroforestry practices have been successful in sub-Saharan Africa and in parts of the United States. Agroforestry is a land use management system in which trees or shrubs are grown around or among crops or pastureland. This intentional combination of agriculture and forestry has varied benefits, including increased biodiversity and reduced erosion. Agroforestry practices have been successful in sub-Saharan Africa and in parts of the United States. The theoretical base for agroforestry comes from ecology, via agroecology. From this perspective, agroforestry is one of the three principal agricultural land-use sciences. The other two are agriculture and forestry. Agroforestry shares principles with intercropping. Both place two or more plant species (such as nitrogen-fixing plants) in close proximity and both provide multiple outputs. As a consequence, overall yields are higher and because a single application or input is shared, costs are reduced. Agroforestry systems can be advantageous over conventional agricultural, and forest production methods. They can offer increased productivity, economic benefits, and more diversity in the ecological goods and services provided. (An example of this was seen in trying to conserve Milicia excelsa.)