Vigyan Bhavan & Kempinski Ambience
10 - 14 February 2014
Delhi, India
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A great deal of the World Congress on Agroforestry, held in New Delhi, focused on business: How to link smallholders to markets? How to make agroforestry profitable? How to engage major corporations? How to guarantee social and environmental sustainability while making money?
Some of the liveliest discussions involved high-profile executives and entrepreneurs, including a panel with Howard Shapiro, chief agricultural officer of Mars Inc.; Bernard Giraud, president of Danone’s Livelihoods Venture, Tristan Lecomte, founder and CEO of the Pur Project; and the noted Indian entrepreneur and sustainable-business advocate Ranjit Barthakur. In breakout sessions, we explored the viability of trees as crops, looked into biofuels as a reliable energy source and discussed quantification of environmental services.
A consistent message was that farmers can’t do it alone, especially if they’re also growing food for their families. Building successful agroforestry systems, requires scientific expertise, business savvy and access to markets, robust policies and infrastructure, and NGO support to advocate for farmers and help with training and facilitation. It’s a team effort, and it takes a lot of resources.
Read full blog
(published on the website of SIANI, Swedish International Agricultural Network Initiative)
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Related Story:
Business – smallholder relationships: true commitment or false promises?
Landscape in Tanzania. Photo by Paul Stapleton/ICRAF
In order to realize implementation of a landscape approach, a dynamic combination and interaction of factors is involved. At a Landscape session during the World Congress on Agroforestry, discussions focused on key areas involving actual implementing case studies, need forsynergies between mitigation and adaptation in policy, innovative community-driven institutional platforms, and governance.
A comparative study looking at 191 Integrated Landscape Initiatives in Latin America and Africa showed that while in both regions the motivation for adopting landscape approach are sustainable environmental protection, enhancing food security and agricultural productivity; in Latin America, where the practice has been conducted for a longer time than Africa, incentives go further to include reducing negative agriculture impacts.
In both places, the initiative involves stakeholder groups, government, producers, marginalized groups and non-governmental organizations inside and outside the landscape. Groups studied cited tangible outcomes including improved skills and governance structures as success factors and lack of funding, proper infrastructure, proper policies, government and private sector involvement as challenges to a landscape approach.
In Sri Lanka, effort is underway to reclaim degraded land where forest has been cleared for tea and coffee farming since the 1800s. Challenges to deal with currently as the project is implemented include quick win commercial ventures and lack of native planting material.
When looking at policy frameworks that implement a landscape approach, emphasis was made on the need to synergize mitigation and adaptation as opposed to looking at the two streams separately. The example of environmental service in Suba, Ethiopia was used to illustrate the domino effect between the two approaches. For instance, failure to adapt to drought and flooding in the region creates a knock on effect on mitigation as communities are forced to move into productive forest areas where they clear the forest for increased farm productivity. On the other hand, failure to mitigate leads to high carbon emissions that in turn lead to either drought or flooding, making it harder to adapt. To synergize, multifunctional landscape level actions are needed.
In Eastern Uganda, innovation platforms that comprise ‘multi-stakeholder arrangements, innovation networks, coalitions or public-private partnerships’ have been adopted as institutional frameworks to foster community cohesion and collective action; yielding positive effects of increased livestock, tree cover and raised income levels.
In Mexico, a pilot study is testing the use of agroforestry as a conservation measure in protected areas, which would require reforms in political administration and land tenure for the most part.
To provide governance structures that are manageable, one presentation showed innovative territorial governance known as The Model Forest Landscape Approach as it is being carried out in 5 countries across six regions. Benefits of this particular innovation at a landscape level have provided resilient social infrastructure, effective experimentation, demonstration and practical knowledge sharing tools. It has also promoted regional dialogue as well as public – private partnerships and growth of local business.
Ensuing discussions at the session made it clear that the feasibility of landscape approaches largely hinge on favorable policy frameworks driven by political will and active involvement of all stakeholders; including specific targeting of the private sector, a move that has potential to inject new innovation and funding.
By Elizabeth Kahurani
Communications Manager, Environmental Services & ASB Partnership for the Tropical Forest Margins
Related links:
Landscape approach allows business to share risks and benefit
Dennis Garrity speaks at WCA2014 in Delhi, India. Photo by Daniel Kapsoot/ICRAF
On the closing afternoon of the World Congress on Agroforestry 2014, participants from South Asia, East, West and Southern Africa came together to plan on how to dramatically scale up the use of trees in cropping and grazing lands of smallholder farmers across the world.
Dennis Garrity, Chair of the EverGreen Agriculture Partnership and UN Drylands Ambassador, emphasized the need to “embed these ideas into the hearts and minds of the ‘hard-core aggies’.”
Once the idea has been taken on by organizations working daily with farmers in mainstream conventional agriculture, large-scale adoption will become achievable, said Garrity.
Representatives from across Africa and South Asia heard about successes and the progress made so far in establishing partnerships and demonstrating agricultural approaches that integrated trees into farm fields.
To date, about a hundred thousand women farmers in Malawi are growing Gliricidia sepium for fodder for their livestock and nutrients for their soil. And emerging partnerships in East Africa are easing the sharing of knowledge and experiences with systems like conservation agriculture with trees.
But in order to share the benefits of these approaches further, the group made a unanimous call for greater collaboration and partnerships with groups such local radio stations, education institutions and NGO consortiums at both a national and global scale. By working with institutions such as these, science-based solutions such as EverGreen agriculture can be shared more widely, adapted locally and extended to farmers, often by farmers across enormous scales.
For each region, many methods and opportunities to take this scaling up further were identified, and the partners at the event drafted actions plans.
“In India in particular, the opportunities to accelerate scaling up are extensive. And we have exciting opportunities in many of Africa’s regions,” said Garrity.
While funding was raised as a challenge in some regions, the meeting agreed that with organizational commitment, you can move forward with what is available.
In Dennis’s words: “Good ideas, and good programs are the basis for good funding”.
“It is all about partnerships, bringing science to development, and shaking hands with development partners as we move forward together.”
By Alice Muller
EverGreen Agriculture Partnership Manager
Related stories
We need Steve Jobs’ in agroforestry
Where good science and the art of innovation meet
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For more information: www.worldagroforestry.org
Evergreen Agriculture web site: www.evergreenagriculture.net
Email: d.garrity@cgiar.org and a.muller@cgiar.org
Social Media training at the World Congress on Agroforestry
Someone once told me, we can do all the science we want, we can do all the agricultural research for development we want, unless if our findings get “out there”, the research is a useless spending of public funding.
And “getting it out there” is not just publishing in scientific journals, but “getting it out there” through open access, giving each and everyone access not only to our research findings, but also to the insights of our research process, inviting discussions already during the research process itself.
In that philosophy, social media plays an increasingly important role, as we have proven in our CGIAR research in the past years.
And this goes also for conferences like the World Congress on Agroforestry: For us, the communications team, conferences are not a goal, they are a means. A means to advocate for our causes, a means to include of remote participants into the onsite discussions and presentations, and also a means to build capacity amongst participants, our partner organisations, and youth in the use of online media and social media, for science communications.
Core to the social media outreach at #WCA2014 was a group of 135 social reporters from all over the world. Around 110 social reporters supported us remotely, and 25 of them were onsite.
Fifteen social reporters followed a two-day social media induction course just prior to the Congress. Many of them came from the “traditional media”: the print media, radio or TV, and had little exposure to online media, leave alone, social media.
One of them is Beena Kharel who just started her new job as a Communication and Research Uptake ‘Specialist’ for The International Water Management Institute (IWMI) in Nepal
Coming from a traditional media and journalism background, Beena wrote the following blogpost about her first “adventures in social media wonderland”, the challenge faced in using a plethora of social media tools, and the challenges to “communicate about science without being a scientist”.
My First Social Media Ramblings
New to online science communication? “Please don’t lose your heart!” This is what seasoned social reporters told me in the corridors of the World Congress on Agroforestry (WCA) in Delhi.
The can-do camaraderie generated amongst online communicators saved the heart of CGIAR online newbies, like myself, who were ready to learn and contribute to live reporting (or social reporting) from the Congress.
It was heartening to see how a small group of dazed professional communicators, assembled as online newbies, transformed themselves into spontaneous online communicators in a couple of days.
Peter Casier, the WCA2014 social media coordinator, guided us through the process: “I know several of you struggle real hard to find a sense, a flow, and a schwung in your blog post. But your blood, sweat, and tears is worth it!”, he exclaimed the first day. And as Peter loves people who love social media, he guarded over us like a hen guards its chicks.
Transforming into an online communicator
Peer learning and interaction with communities of practice boosted the secret drive of the social reporters at the WCA2014. The group of trainees, based in Asia and Africa, wanted to assimilate into the world of social media for a professional cause. They knew adoption of a fast-emerging medium will also fetch them more dollops to butter their daily breads.
These communicators and online writers, of course, were the quintessential lot with adequate skills they have honed over the years, with a fair share of stumbles and successes. Above all, they had the love for reaching out to tell more stories in the interest of humanity.
Some of them, overdosed by traditional communications, were trying to rehabilitate into professional bloggers and hashtaggers.
Casier, an online communication expert, offered buckets of wisdom in a two-day social media boot camp set-up as a precursor to the Congress. It was in the boot camp I had met half a dozen enthusiasts from the CGIAR family dedicated to communicating science.
Social media is one thing. Social reporting is a different thing altogether.
Live tweeting and blogging from an international Congress expanded into four plenaries and six breakout sessions with a range of topics—from application of science to business impacts of agroforestry…
It was nerve-wrecking.
A social media reporter from Europe quipped: “It is like picking up a sachet of an instant Nestle kaffee in a place without taste buds for the original coffee.”
Blogs and Twitter, the main official online media, chosen for social reporting for the Congress could have been somewhat new and awkward for some professional communicators. Some needed a little push to rekindle their interest in instant communication.
A few others (like me) with no science background had to muster courage and energy only to listen to the scientists who tried to explain their findings in serious languages in less than 10 minutes in a packed auditorium. Breathless!
After the painful listening was over, the question was: What to do with the learned ramblings they had uttered during the training, which we had so dutifully jotted down or captured in gadgets? Chase a panelist on tree fodder and animal nutrition after a breakout?
Thank You, done! But a young scientist from the Indian state of Mizoram must have found my question how the villagers in rugged terrains do to get their daily supply of animal fodder too simplistic to answer. He described the landscape of North-East India instead. After the third attempt, he politely said that he would improve his presentation in the future, as I clearly did not get it. My pain: How to ask the right question on a subject you hardly know anything?
Look for audience in help? A nice tip! I tried when a female audience urged the panelists to walk extra miles to advocate their findings for actions and criticized their shy and neutral approach. Content for a blogpost?
Follow a vocal audience! Even a better tip! I grabbed a Filipina scientist-turned-activist who is married to an Indian. She wanted the scientists to become advocates and more, something like God! Content for a blogpost?
Social media for Scientists
To be or not to be an advocate is an individual choice. Not all scientists have the aptitude and incentives to opt for trendy communications. Publishing in scientific journals is one thing; publishing online in blogs or on Twitter or Facebook is another game.
More scientists, especially from the social spectrum, are appearing online to storify their findings. This is helping sell science better, inform funders about the good use of their money and create the impact of researches, say senior managers of agroforestry institutes.
Dr Sandeep Sehgal, assistant professor on agroforestry based in Jammu of India, acknowledges his student who opened his eyes to social research and the importance of online communications to get the message across. He had contributed “Scary Trees” for a blog competition in the run-up to the Congress.
An increasing number of scientists, researchers, science writers and publishers with a knack for instant, crisp and convincing narration have joined social communication channels to bridge the gap between ‘serious’ scientists and ‘fluffy’ communicators. This has given a fresh spin to innumerable campaigns—seen online even on casual clicks—to generate awareness about natural resource management, its effects on daily lives and the future for humanity.
What will happen to our dear traditional forms of communications then? I believe they will continue to bring sanity to online media!
Blogpost by Beena Kharel, Communication and Research Uptake Specialist, The International Water Management Institute (IWMI), Nepal
Preface by Peter Casier, WCA2014 Social Media Coordinator
Photo by Daniel Kapsoot (World Agroforestry Centre)
The Western Ghats, India. Photo by Alosh Bennet
Coffee plantations are expanding fast at the cost of disrupting ecological systems. Coffee Agroforestry System (AFS) seem to have positive impact on environmental services; or do they?
Kodagu, located in the Western Ghats in India, produces 2% of the world’s coffee. The Western Ghats is one of the top ten biological hotspots in the world; over 137 species of mammals and 508 species of birds can be found here, including a sizeable population of majestic elephants.
Over the last 30 years, coffee has expanded tremendously in the region to the detriment of the forest and its dwellers. The intensification of coffee cultivation is also leading to the removal of shade trees which is directly linked not only to better growth of coffee but also to numerous ecological benefits. Water is another critical resource affected. The main rivers which provides water all over Southern India, originate from these coffee areas of the Western Ghats.
The tree composition of this coffee landscape has been affected by changes in farmers’ management practices, such as irrigation to stimulate coffee mass flowering, or introduction of exotic tree species (mainly silky oak) for timber production and pepper.
Speaking at the World Congress on Agroforestry WCA2014, Philippe Vaast, an eco-physiologist from ICRAF & CIRAD, said trees are important not only for providing shade but also for providing a microclimate for other organisms, but farmers are not adept at managing shade.
“The right amount of shade is important for coffee; too much or too little is harmful. This manipulation of shade is not done well or understood by farmers. A lot of work needs to be done in this area. ”
A project undertaken by ICRAF and partners studied for 3 years how the change in tree cover from predominantly native tree species to exotic species affected the water dynamics in coffee AFS of the Kavery watershed of Kodagu district, the most important coffee district of the region.
The research threw up a mixed bag of results: the native trees were better than exotics in terms of providing optimum shade and a better environment for coffee growth, but the exotic trees were superior in recharging aquifers.
According to Syam Viswanath, a scientist at Indian Council of Forestry Research & Education (ICFRE), two important factors have to be taken into account for coffee agroforestry system: yield and quality.
“The kind of tree a farmer finally plants on his farm is a result of many factors: growing speed, maintainability, robustness, economic value or simply its attractiveness to an elephant!”
By Nitasha Nair
Ms Nair is a Senior Communication Officer with the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) – India
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For more Congress blogs, please visit http://www.wca2014.org/blog/
For even more agroforestry-related blogs, please visit http://blog.worldagroforestry.org/
Congress on Twitter: #WCA2014!
Farmers in Talensi, Ghana, regenerate their trees. Photo by Tony Rinaudo
The agroforestry system known as Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR) is spreading rapidly and widely, but can this be explained by good science?
Science guides us on optimal species to promote, plant spacing, pruning methods, soil fertility impacts, moisture levels, annual crop yields and much more.
Science also explains important concepts relevant to FMNR, such as apical dominance (i.e. why the central stem of a plant grows more strongly than other side stems) and why such rapid growth from tree stumps is possible. But the reason why FMNR is being adopted on a very large scale is not primarily because we got the science right.
I believe FMNR is being adopted by tens of thousands of farmers in dozens of countries in Africa and Asia because it is a low cost, rapid and flexible tool which is in the hands of farmers.
FMNR enables farmers to respond quickly to their ever changing economic, environmental and social reality. They adapt this flexible tool, happily sacrificing ‘optimum output’ for the much more desirable outcome of yield/income stability.
Resource-poor, risk-averse farmers have to survive and want to thrive in a highly risky social-environmental-economic reality. Failure can literally mean disaster, even death so they opt for stability of yield/income over time rather than maximum yield in some years.
In 2013, Dr. Richard Stirzaker from the CSIRO in Australia wrote the following:
“I have followed the development of Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR) since its very beginning in Niger during the early 1980’s. Thirty years later, independent scientists have hailed FMNR as contributing to the greatest positive transformation of the Sahel. I agree.
FMNR is a counter-intuitive idea. Traditional agroforestry has always tried to specify the ultimate tree-crop combination and arrangement that maximises complementarily. FMNR is based on a naturally regenerating suite of tree species, each growing where they are because they have demonstrated an ability to best exploit a specific niche and overcome prevailing constraints. The farmer then thins and selects from this ‘template’ that nature has produced. Farmers derive their livelihoods from cropping around the trees, cutting browse for animals, producing construction poles and firewood. The contribution each of these options make towards food security depends on current trees density, rainfall, availability of labour and the prevailing prices for the different products, providing food and income stability in a very variable environment.
I do not think that any research program, no matter how well funded, would have come up with the idea, because it expertly combines the subtleties of location specific tree selection with farmer specific opportunities and constraints.”
This is not an attack on good science, nor does it nullify the need for science to guide the targets that FMNR should move towards. It is a call to give greater emphasis on the real needs of farmers, to include them in the scientific method and even, sometimes, to follow their lead.
More information on FMNR can be found here: Farmer_Managed_Natural_Regeneration
A brief video explanation on FMNR can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9DpptI4QGY
By Tony Rinaudo
R & D Advisor, Natural Resources
Food Security and Climate Change
World Vision Australia
tony.rinaudo@worldvision.com.au
Apples. Photo by Wolfgang Lonien
As Steve Jobs used to say, “People don’t know what they want until you show it to them.”
Agroforestry has what people want and need, in both the developing and developed world. Trees that improve crop yields, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, provide nutritious fruits, fodder for animals and fuel. The challenge lies in getting agroforestry adopted on a huge scale.
Eternal optimist Dennis Garrity, UNCCD Drylands Ambassador and former Director General of the World Agroforestry Centre addressed participants at the final day of the Congress saying “people will come to you if you have the right products.”
“Yes, we’ve had our failures,” said Garrity. “But these have helped us to produce dynamite products in agroforestry.”
In France, farmers are producing wheat with walnut trees. Agroforestry is increasingly being seen in Europe as a means for reducing the greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture. Agroforestry systems are being developed for the American corn belt.
In Niger, over 4 million hectares of croplands are now dominated by fertilizer-fodder-fuelwood trees through what is known as Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR).
It seems there is a menu of agroforestry products – fertilizer, fodder, food and fuel trees – that farmers can select from, but how can this knowledge be better transferred from scientists to the grassroots level. Garrity says we have failed to get the hard-core aggies on board. “How many agronomists are in the room today?” he asked, to which a few scattered hands were raised.
“We need to reach out to the aggies, they need to know about what we are doing and they need to be coaxed.” Garrity is working hard to achieve this through Evergreen Agriculture which he describes as a brand that connects agroforestry with hard-core ‘aggies’ to scale-up trees on farms.
“African farmers are showing how trees can be successfully integrated into cropping systems. When will we catch up and fully deploy their insights?”
But as I alluded to earlier, Garrity is an optimist. He believes we are beginning to see a trend which will be at the heart of a truly sustainable planet: the ‘perennialization’ of agriculture.
“If we do our jobs well, we will see that perennialization is the key to meeting the new Sustainable Development Goals.”
Agroforestry science and development can make a crucial contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals which will soon replace the Millenium Development Goals. But this contribution can only be made through a massive effort in up-scaling agroforestry across the world.
According to Garrity, we need global maps of agroforestry, a global agroforestry assessment and a global plan for up-scaling agroforestry. Additional staff will be needed to link science with development and we must not forget the holy grail: genetic information on tree species.
An “upcoming global revolution in agroforestry up-scaling” is before us, says Garrity. We have to demonstrate that agroforestry really does have the products that millions of farmers across the world want and need.
“Be ambitious,” said Garrity told Congress participants. “We need more Steve Jobs’s in agroforestry.”
Photo by Wolfgang Lonien
Men carve a pattern from a paper template. Jepara, Central Java, Indonesia. Photo by Murdani Usman/CIFOR via Flickr
People in Europe buy furniture made from Indonesian timber. They want to know that the wood is harvested legally. New EU import rules will start soon. For farmers in Indonesia, it looks like more and more paperwork with no guarantee of new markets and better income.
The European Union has agreements called Forest Law Enforcement, Governance, and Trade (FLEGT) between itself and countries that grow tropical timber. New FLEGT rules from January 2014 will have an effect on regulations in Indonesia that govern how the 5 million or so smallholding timber growers on Java in Indonesia operate.
These smallholders produce most of the timber for the USD 1 billion worth of annual furniture exports. Their operations are already regulated to greater or lesser degrees along the entire length of the value chain, from choice of land and seedlings through harvest, sale, transport and manufacture to export. There are a number of organizations that support, or purport to support, smallholders navigate the maze of regulations and charges, adding further layers.
The set of rules through which FLEGT is implemented in Indonesia is called Sistem Verifikasi Legalitas Kayu (SVLK/Timber Legality Verification System). SVLK requires third-party auditing and licensing of timber legality for all timber products and the relationships between timber producers, craftsmen and the manufacturing industry.
As well, the Ministry of Forestry regulates ‘distribution notes’, which provide species-based verification, typically for timber from food-producing trees like rambutan and mango. There are also ‘self-usage distribution notes’ for timber from State land, which are based on the territory or respective administrative area. And then there is the one that smallholders are most familiar with: the Surat Keterangan Asal Usul Kayu or SKAU; this is both species- and territory-based verification for timber not produced on State land.
“The implicit challenge is to tailor licensing and regulation differently for different modes of production within a system that is already facing financial difficulties, especially at the smallholder level,” said James Erbaugh of the University of Michigan, who presented findings from his team’s research at the World Congress on Agroforestry in New Delhi, India, on 12 February 2014.
As it is, the SKAU requires a smallholder to report to the closest village head or forestry official who has been certified for SKAU approval. This official then conducts a physical examination of the timber to be transported. Then, the smallholder must complete a Location Verification form, which requires proof of land ownership. The verification receives a serial number upon publication and six copies of it must be delivered to specific officials and offices.
The research team observed that there was a mixed level of enforcement for this verification. Timber that was destined to go across the district boundaries often included the document, while timber that stayed within the district was less often accompanied by the document. They were unable to determine the extent to which the document was completed and enforced.
“It would probably be more effective to tackle the legitimacy of SKAU certification rather than relying exclusively on trying to verify that farmers and the wider industry were complying with it,” said Erbaugh. “The need for the whole SVLK system is not because of an absence of the verification of legality but because of the lack of legitimacy. Addressing this might circumvent certain problems that SVLK is bound to face.”
How the lack of legitimacy might be addressed the researchers didn’t say. Presumably through the provision of evidence to the EU by the Indonesian Government. Perhaps most importantly, the researchers did not look at whether new SVLK licenses have actually increased market access to new EU markets for local growers or not. If the system isn’t working now, will it work in the future? Probably only with serious reform at all levels.
By Robert Finlayson
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Follow the Congress on Twitter #WCA2014 for live updates!
Agroforestry working group
A team of nine individuals from different agroforestry-related organizations worldwide will spearhead the formation of an organization that will facilitate cooperation and knowledge-sharing in this area.
The organization, the brainchild of the World Agroforestry Centre and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, is expected to establish and manage an international secretariat which will coordinate activities in support of its members.
Interested founding members have been given up to three months from the close of the World Congress on Agroforestry to express their interest, through an email provided as a.temu@cgiar.com.
Other draft objectives of the organization include convening forums at different scales (global and regional) that promote agroforestry research and practice, actively engaging in international policy forums and debates that relate to agroforestry land use and providing platforms for its members to collaborate for mutual benefits.
The organization will also strive to promote publication and sharing of agroforestry research results and successful adoption and implementation.
“This organization aims to bring together national and regional agroforestry associations, research organisations, farmer groups, NGOs, corporations, universities and any individual with the common interest of transforming livelihoods and landscapes through agroforestry for a sustainable future,” said August Temu, one of the volunteers to the working group committee.
The Drafting Committee of nine distinguished individuals will develop and refine the Union’s charter. This Committee immediately sat down for its first meeting and agreed to work to an ambitious timetable. The charter they will work on will be opened for comments on 2 April. This period will conclude on 12 May, after which the Drafting Committee will formulate a final version for adoption by the founding members on 2nd June. This date is auspicious: it marks the opening day of the European Agroforestry Congress, to be held in Cottbus, Germany.
The members of the Drafting Committee are August Temu, Roger Leaky, Patrick Worms, Shibu Jose, Gregory Ormsby Mori, Mohan Kumar, Rosa Mosquera-Losada, Gillian Kabwe and Sumit Chaturvedi.
“In order to form such an international organization, you must have a charter in place, which is a legal document. We already have a draft charter ready with us,” said Temu.
It is expected that the organization will be in place later this year.
They welcome your contributions and comments, so drop them a line!
By Isaiah Esipisu & Patrick Worms
Bimbika Basnett speaking at WCA2014. Photo by Rob Finlayson/ICRAF
Development agencies and researchers have long assumed that rural women are victims. Not only of climate change but also nearly everything else. New research says these assumptions are without basis.
According to Bimbika Basnett, a researcher with the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), the premise that women are victims of climate change rests on tenuous assumptions and weak empirical evidence. What’s more, there is a tendency amongst people researching gender and agroforestry to tabulate data that has been separated into male and female data and draw far-reaching conclusions from it.
“In a way, it’s welcome that women are being discussed in the climate-change area,” she said. “But when you look at the assumptions that the discussions are based on, they are wrong. They can lead to negative outcomes.”
The general argument is that poor and disadvantaged people are more vulnerable to climate change. Women are lumped into the category without question. However, men might be poor and vulnerable, too, and distinctions between the genders might be hard to correlate with vulnerability to climate change.
Yet in climate-change debates, the idea of women as victims is used to introduce wider issues of inequality. And because women are supposedly victims they can be mobilized to affect change. Basnett questioned where ideas like this came from and what sort of influence they had.
Recent research showed that there were two oft-repeated claims circulating in the sector: 1) Women are 70% of the poor; and 2) they are 14 times more likely than men to die in natural disasters.
There is no basis for either of these claims, says Basnett. ‘Data in developing countries is hard to get and of poor quality so how can someone reliably calculate the global percentage of poverty by gender? Second, there is no clear definition, anywhere, of what exactly is meant by “poverty”. Being poor in one country is different from being poor in another.
“Gender and poverty are usually separate issues in most countries and not exclusively the province of the rural poor. For example, in urban areas gender issues can be magnified, such as here in India, where female sex-selective abortion is more common in cities among wealthier people than in the countryside among the poor.”
Basnett also traced the source of the claim that women were 14 times more likely to die in a natural disaster. It was first aired as an anecdote in a workshop on natural hazards in 1994 and repeated without question thereafter for another decade.
Both these assumptions persisted even though they were wrong and no one had seen the original data.
“I think the uncritical acceptance of these statements, and the unquestioned “women are victims of climate change” argument, has been driven by the motivation to ensure that women and unequal power relations are included in policy discussions about climate change,” she said.
“People use this position to seek sympathy and strategic coalitions with those who privilege investing in women as a form of smart economics.”
This kind of thinking has negative effects, such as limiting the understanding of gender to stereotypes of women and men. It also weakens the credibility of gender research and encourages the implementation of policies that reproduce gender inequalities.
Basnett’s advice, not surprisingly, is that facts and figures should be investigated and not assumed. Second, there should be sound gender analyses conducted and, third, the approach used should be rights-based rather than instrumental.
Perhaps then women will be afforded the respect they deserve.
By Robert Finlayson
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Related story
Gender is a many-splendoured thing
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Follow the Congress on Twitter #WCA2014 for live updates!
Rubber agroforestry with coconut. Photo by Andi Prahmono/ICRAF
Smallholder farmers in Sumatra and Kalimantan in Indonesia are often reluctant to plant improved, high-yielding clonal rubber trees in their agroforestry systems. Dudi Iskandar from Agency for Assessment and Application of Technology, Indonesia, set out to figure out why.
According to Iskandar, in Sumatra and Kalimantan, 7 million farmers depend for their livelihoods on rubber, which is mostly grown in a traditional mixed farming system with unselected ‘jungle rubber’. With this system, the expected annual latex yield will only reach 590 kg/ha, far below rubber monocultures which can produce up to 1310 kg/ha over the same period.
This situation can be improved by applying a system called Rubber Agroforestry System (RAS), developed and introduced by the World Agroforestry Centre . Unlike the jungle rubber system, in which seedlings are unselected, RAS uses clonal rubber. With RAS farmers produce more rubber, continue to harvest other different products from the agroforestry system, while at the same time maintaining the landscape’s environment sustainability.
Despite the benefit it offers, however, the adoption of RAS is still limited.
“When it comes to clonal rubber, lots of farmers have difficulty in identifying it,” said Iskandar. “It is true that they really want to improve their systems’ productivity, which they realize can be achieved by using clonal rubber. But often they were fooled by seedling sellers, who stamp ordinary seedling as clonal rubber,” Iskandar told the congress.
“Later, when these trees don’t produce the desired yield, it makes farmers doubt clonal rubber.”
This is one factor that hinders the adoption, along with other factors such as incentives, income level, the establishment of demonstration plot and land-size.
Iskandar’s study, which looked at 223 rubber farmers in Jambi and West Kalimantan provinces, also found that farmers with incentives and higher incomes were more likely to adopt RAS, because buying clonal seedlings needs capital.
To support adoption, the establishment of demonstration plots is considered important, because farmers need to see the proof of the benefits of RAS.
“These are smallholder farmers who don’t have the liberty of taking many risks, so before they adopt it, they need to be sure that it actually works,” Iskandar explained.
“Therefore, RAS demonstration plots is the precise way to do so because it provides a visible ‘success story’, letting farmers see the evidence for themselves,” he pointed out.
Iskandar added that RAS is considered as a good option to increase yields, specifically when the farming area is narrow.
Furthermore, Iskandar recommended that the government provides more support to smallholder farmers, such as access to information, credit, loans, as well as incentives in the form of provision of genuine clonal seedlings, fertilizers and pesticides.
“There is also the possibility to build the incentives farmers are longing for into payments for environmental services (PES),” he added.
By Enggar Paramita
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Follow the Congress on Twitter #WCA2014 for live updates!
“Ask not what your country can do for you, but ask what you can do for your country!”, said John F. Kennedy in his inaugural address.
Would large companies have similar ideas when buying produce from smallholders? “Smallholder, don’t ask what I can do for you, but what you can do for me”?. The dynamic has to be more complex than that.
Consumer behavior, certification and green-washing
When “northern” consumers started to get conscious about the impact THEY are having by choosing their basket of goods, businesses started to get cold feet. “We have to please them, what shall we do?” Suddenly, many started embracing Certification, Organic, Fairtrade, etc. NGOs like Rainforest Alliance and UTZ Certified mushroomed to get a slice of the cake which was to be made from this opportunity. Businesses were happy that they could team up with someone to get a green vest. Some called this Greenwashing, others are claiming truly sustainable benefits for both the environment and humans.
“Has certification failed?” Tony Simons, director general of ICRAF, asked several high-ranking corporate officers at the World Congress on Agroforestry 2014. Answers were mixed. Some said that even with the best of intentions the inhumanly hard market would not even allow a 5 – 10% premium to be granted to smallholders. Others asked the question “Well, what do you get for your money?” and stated that “Certification is buying guilt from rich consumers”; an interesting thought. But are you capable to evaluate the promises? In most cases not. “If a smallholder can live in poverty being certified, it has failed” Dr. Howard Shapiro, Chief Agricultural Officer MARS Inc., said. I agree.
What I see as key to the problem are constraints in two fields: international standards and consumer attitudes, particularly with regard to education. About the former: Inconsistencies between labels are very big today. There is a need for a set of internationally recognized indicators a company has to comply with before it can call itself “green”, “sustainable”, “environmentally sound”, etc. A situation that the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) and HAFL in Switzerland have addressed with an FAO mandated project called “Sustainability Assessment of Food and Agriculture systems” (SAFA). Regarding consumer attitudes, let me give you an example: a beloved person of mine is fanatic about eco-friendly products. But does she know what is behind this term? It takes a huge amount of time to get behind the curtain. Time we don’t have in the “North”. Once the standard set of indicators is a necessity for businesses to get a product labelled, we can start developing equally-standard courses at schools to teach the upcoming generation what the label in the store actually means.
What about science and Public-Private-Partnerships (PPP)?
We need to ask ourselves: “What are the questions we need to ask better” when we bring the researcher into the game. Researchers funded by public money are required to create knowledge for the public good. But when it comes to Public-Private-Partnerships, are businesses not misbalancing Justitia’s scale, are scientists not losing their position as the upholders of neutrality, the ones you can rely on when in need of objective information? We must ensure that science can hold up its noble position as the objective conscience of society. Furthermore, someone must stand up to the duty of informing smallholders about possible risks and consequences that come along with promised-to-be long-term partnerships with the big guys. Who is responsible for that: researchers, governments, extension workers? Or is it at the end of the day really the corporate responsibility? And if so how can we assure that is being implemented? Brings us to the ultimate question I want to ask: “Private sector: the beauty or the beast?”
After all, win-win situations and long-term partnerships are not only a nice-to-have, but a must for sustainable development of both businesses and farmers livelihoods. I think the IAASTD report brought this message across in a quite unbiased way.
Blogpost by Christian Andres/FiBL (Frick, Switzerland) – christian.andres@fibl.org
Photo courtesy Disney
Nikki Pilania Chaudhary, the winner of our ‘Special Prize from the Social Media Jury’,
receives her prize from Dr.Tony Simons (Director General, World Agroforestry Center)
In the run-up to the World Congress on Agroforestry (#WCA2014), we ran a blog competition. The purpose was to provide agroforestry researchers, practitioners, students and farmers a platform to showcase their projects on our blog. We also used this opportunity to encourage people to discover the power of blogging -and social media as a whole- as powerful online publishing and discussion tools. In the process, we also guided people into “the art of blogging”.
The online public could vote for each blog entry, and leave comments, stimulating online discussions on the topics our contest entrants blogged about.
In one month, we received 47 blogposts from 19 countries (India, Morocco, UK, Kenya, Indonesia, Comoros, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Moldova, Bolivia, Nigeria, Kyrgyzstan, Uganda, Canada, Nepal, Sweden, Eritrea, Vietnam and Switzerland).
These contest entries received a total of 23,991 online votes, and 2,262 comments, which was way beyond our expectation. This success showed how eager people were to publish and interact online.
The power and joy of social media
It was also encouraging to see how many competition entrants told us, this was actually the first time they wrote a blogpost, and how they enjoyed discovering the ease of publishing and the speed in which the blogposts “traveled” through the online media. Many were surprised about the amount of people who read the entries: over 35,000 people.
Here are some excerpts we received from our competition entrants:
When I circulated information about my blog to the Agricultural Research Service Scientist forum of ICAR & Agricultural extension as well as Animal Nutrition Association, they got introduced for first time to the concept of Blogging. Some wish to write now. It may go viral!
I am happy to see, it is making some impact. (…) (Our) scientists were largely ignorant about this till today, despite good publicity made through different channels.I am enjoying blogging!
(This) is a kind of game changer for me!! I’m inspired so much & wish many get inspired too! So, I have uploaded it on all of my networks! hope it would help many to think social media a bit more productively, like blogging!!
– Dr Mahesh Chander, Principal Scientist & Head, Division of Extension Education, Indian Veterinary Research Institute
The blog post competition is well received by all here at ICAR/NARS and I hope this will be trendsetter….
–Sridhar Gutam PhD, ARS, Patent Laws (NALSAR), IP & Biotech. (WIPO) – Senior scientist (Plant Physiology) Central Institute for Subtropical Horticulture
It was quite fun participating in this competition. Though I have lost all hopes of winning since I can check the number of votes other participants have got, (…) it was fun indeed, but I learnt so many new things in the process.
– Dr Sandeep Sehgal – Assistant Professor, Agroforestry, Sher-e-Kashmir University of agricultural Sciences and Technology
And the winners are:
While each and every single blog post described an interesting project. There was quite a variety in writing and presentation styles. The posts all plugged into different areas of public interest.
Needless to say that for us, each and every blog post is a winner. After all, the joy is in competing, and going through the process of writing to blogpost.
However, the online public decided in its 23,991 votes. And here are the #WCA2014 blog contest winners are:
1st place:
Entry #21: 5,104 votes
Let’s endorse Fodder Banks for reducing pressure from forests and women drudgery
by Dr.Shalini Dhyani, Scientist, CSIR-NEERI (A scientist from Nagpur, Maharashtra, India)
2nd place:
Entry #7: 5,089 votes
Forestry and Farming a way through: Aloe Vera the green gold amongst us
by Angesom Ghebremeskel Teklu (A social entrepreneur from Asmara, Eritrea)
3rd place:
Entry #30: 3,852 votes
Can we enhance the productivity of our forests through agroforestry?
by Dr. Chandra Shekhar Sanwal, Indian Forest Service, DCF Uttarakhand cadre (A scientist from Dehradun, India)
4th place:
Entry #16: 2,280 votes
Shift of a Paradigm: A Micro Initiative Towards Agro-Forestry
by Manish Kumar (A student from Navinagar, Uttar Pradesh, India)
5th place:
Entry #14: 1,331 votes
Women, livestock and fodder trees in Central Himalayas
by Dr Mahesh Chander, Principal Scientist & Head, Division of Extension Education, Indian Veterinary Research Institute (A scientist from Izatnagar, India)
The prize of appreciation by the social media jury:
A special honorable mention, and the prize of appreciation by the social media jury was awarded to:
Entry #3: 1,229 votes (with an average score of 5/5):
Agroforestry: Attracting youth to farming and transforming Rural India
by Nikki Pilania Chaudhary – Chaudhary Farms (A farmer from Pilibhit,India)
In their nomination, the social media jury wrote the following justification for Nikki’s for prize of appreciation:
Nikki is a young female farmer. This was her first blogpost, and she writes passionately about a crucial topic, urging educated youth to pick up farming in rural areas. Nikki also attended the social media training and is part of our social reporters’ team.
Excerpt from Nikki’s blogpost:
“Farming needs intelligence, good know-how, and lot of professionalism to carry out complex agricultural operations. We need to change our attitude and perception towards farming and I request youth to come up with a green thumb and not to underestimate farming. Agriculture has the potential to provide them with not only a very good income but also the chance to transform rural India.”
The prizes:
These six authors will receive a certificate and a signed copy of “The Trees for Life,” a new book to launched at the Congress.
Dr.Shalini Dhyani wins the first prize: a shiny new Apple iPad tablet.
Congratulations everyone!
A special thanks goes to all of you:
… our blog contestants. You took the opportunity and dared to experiment.
… our online voters. Your votes are the encouragement for our competition entrants to continue experimenting in social media
… all who left comments on the blog entries. You enticed a real online discussion in a critical but positive way, while showing your appreciation to the bloggers.
We hope each and every one of you continues to experiment with social media as a powerful publication and discussion tool.
Well done all!
Picture courtesy Daniel Kapsoot
Earthworms. By Yun Huang Yong via Flikr
If the holy grail of agroforestry is to optimize crop yields and productivity while maintaining the provision of ecosystem services, it turns out it might be a good idea to humour the kings and queens who live underground—nematodes, earthworms, termites and other creepy crawlies that do their work in the soil.
I attended the WCA2014 session on ‘Biodiversity and Agroforested Habitats’ yesterday morning (12 Feb 2014). The session was chaired by Edmundo Barrios, ICRAF’s scientist on Land health, and was surprisingly, or perhaps not so surprisingly, packed full.
The amount of research covered and the level of collaboration between various universities and the World Agroforestry Centre within the six presentations was staggering.
Much of the science was beyond me, but as a lay person whose home is in one of the biggest coffee-growing areas in Ethiopia, my interest was immediately piqued by the research presented.
For example, Hairiah Kurniatun reported on shade, litter, nematodes, earthworms, termites and companion trees in coffee agroforestry in relation to climate resilience. The researcher from University of Brawijaya in Indonesia explained some effects of cropping patterns in coffee agroforestry systems on the abundance of parasitic nematodes. Radopholus love the cocktail of coffee and banana trees but do not particularly like gliricidia (a multipurpose leguminous tree). Unfortunately, neither do earthworms.
In particular, their research showed that a mix of Coffee plus gliricidia plus avocado created lower instances of the parasitic abundance, but add mahogany and the nematode numbers almost doubled. Beautifully useful information from research.
The presentation by Mattias Jonsson, titled ‘The effects of shade, altitude and landscape composition on coffee pests in East Africa,” had one of my favourite slides, on how to decide whether shade trees are useful for control of white stemborer, coffee berry borer and lacebugs in coffee.
What was more surprising is the research by Vivian Valencia and colleagues that shows that cash crops like coffee are better for the environment, and more robust to climate variability than food crops. You see, coffee agroforestry systems are intermediate between forest and monoculture coffee in many aspects of above- and below-ground biodiversity and related functions.
For the farmer, however, the balance of positive and negative aspects of diversity needs to be understood in relation to processes such as nutrient and water uptake, slope and topsoil integrity, and harvestable yield.
Coffee agroforestry is considered a promising alternative to conventional agriculture that may conserve biodiversity while supporting local livelihoods. Another study that finds that coffee agroforestry might in fact be better for biodiversity than crop monocultures and pasturelands. Whenever appropriate, strategies and policies should trigger the conversion of coffee monocultures and pastureland into coffee agroforests, thereby sparing forests and reforesting tree-less agricultural land.
I’m sure for countries whose incomes include large amounts from these cash crops, this is very good news indeed, but what does it mean for food crops?
Edmundo Barrios in his talk argued that recommendations of what types of tree densities, arrangements and species maintain essential ecosystem functions provided by soil biota in agricultural landscape is essential. Furthermore, identifying, quantifying and mapping host spots of biological activity and ecosystem services should aim to develop local soil health monitoring systems to evaluate ecosystem service provision performance. This, said Barrios, would allow rural communities, environmental/agricultural institutions, and local governments to prepare for negotiations related to payment for ecosystem services.
I couldn’t help but wonder, in a world where money talks, whether researchers can quantify this information in dollar terms, especially for cash crops like coffee, rubber and cocoa.
Because when Wall Street’s interest is piqued, then perhaps the kings and queens of the soil will survive, and ultimately, ourselves.
By Akefetey Mamo
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Philip Dobie delivering a truly inspirational and philosophical talk about the way forward for agricultural science to create impact. Photo by Sinead Mowlds (co-author).
Research and Development (R+D) has been around for a long time; every serious big business has an R+D unit. Looking at the context of agricultural research, there was a slight but significant change in the wording lately: R+D became R4D—Research FOR Development. Suddenly, scientists are expected to not only develop the solutions, but also apply them to attain development. To meet this huge challenge we need nothing less than a fundamental change in paradigm: R4D has to become R-IN-D, meaning Research in Development.
From top-down to bottom-up
Extension was essentially born as a top-down approach; Scientists were expected to develop solutions and put them on the shelf. Extension workers would buy the solutions and apply them in the farmers’ context. Change has led scientists to increasingly opt for the bottom-up approach. They apply concepts like Farmers-to-Farmers Extension (FFE) and Volunteer Farmers Training (VFT) among others. All these terms can be categorized as types of Rural Advisory Service (RAS). Quite a promising approach if you ask me. Even more so as there is a Global Forum for Rural Advisory Service (GFRAS), which acts as an umbrella for RAS approaches around the world.
However, many scientists are still opting for the top-down approach; recently for example, the First International Conference on Global Food Security was held in the Netherlands. Before I went there, I asked myself: isn’t food security essentially a local problem? At the conference itself I asked myself why scientists were spending huge amounts of resources to develop complicated models in order to calculate worldwide yield gaps for different crops, only to conclude with statements like “OK, well, our model works well or doesn’t work at all under these and those circumstances”? Is it because they are afraid of going out to that bumpy real world to do something with their proper hands that truly has impact?
The fact is that food security is a local problem, and only bringing together multiple local solutions can solve the problem of “global” food security. Maybe they will call it “First International Conference on Local Food Security” next time.
From R4D to R-IN-D
So here I was at session 6.3 of the World Congress on Agroforestry 2014 entitled “The science of scaling up and the trajectory beyond subsistence”. Quite an ambitious title, but it hits the spot! After Ann Degrande and Evelyne Kiptot had set the scene with inspiring case-studies, the chair himself took over. Steve Franzel delivered a remarkable talk to raise the quality level of the session even more.
The title of this blog was taken from the chair’s speech; let me repeat: “It’s not about best practice, but best fit”, indicating that best practices are always site-specific.
It is only when you have the general picture (through meta-analyses and the like) that you can break it down to the local level again taking into account the very circumstances you are dealing with (in various dimensions). Today, many case studies are available. The trick is to stir the pot and cook a new recipe from it that brings us forward.
But that was just the beginning. One of the most inspiring, pleasing, mind-soothing yet challenging and highly philosophical speeches I have ever heard at a conference was the one given by Philip Dobie. He drew a mind-blowing picture of Research IN Development, which would enable us to make science a more rapid learning process by shortening feedback loops as inherent part of innovation cycles. In order to get there, we need to take two main steps:
Firstly, mindsets of scientists and donors have to change in the same way as the wording (from R+D to R4D). Donors funding R4D projects expect you to “have impact” in your research. This impact does not come with a publication in a journal with a high impact factor like Science or Nature. After all, paper remains paper. No, the true impact is in many cases still missing. Farming systems research is taking a first step into the right direction, making methodologies more multi-dimensional thus holistic. Systems are complex and therefore unpredictable. If agricultural systems are so, the development we want them to undergo is at least as complex!
Secondly, we need to design research projects to be much more of a learning process in order to shorten these feedback loops! We have to design our projects to be more complex, integrating social and bio-physical science under the same roof in new forms of institutions. For that, Philip Dobie says, we have to take the courage to say “No” to our donors sometimes. That is, if they have not yet understood the direction research needs to go to truly have impact.
After all, impact is what donors want. It is also the desire of farmers, and hopefully the preference of researchers working in R4D.
By Christian Andres
Researcher in Tropical Production Systems
FiBL (Frick, Switzerland)
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Follow the Congress on Twitter #WCA2014 for live updates!
A child receives treatment at a clinic in Malawi. Photo courtesy of Doctor without Borders
In rural Malawi, when people get infected with HIV, they increasingly rely on forest resources for medicines and fruits. How can agroforestry take the pressure off forests?
“Agroforestry can provide HIV-AIDS-affected people with some of their most basic needs such as firewood, traditional medicines and fruits,” says Joleen Timko, a researcher from the University of British Columbia.
In Malawi, which has a predominantly rural population that depends on forests for food and fuel, an estimated 10.8 per cent of the adult population is living with HIV/AIDS.
Forest resources in the country are already depleted. “If these resources are further depleted, those affected by HIV-AIDS could suffer immensely from decreased stamina, increased vulnerability to further infections and other diseases, and greater food insecurity,” says Timko.
Timko has been researching how the disease has impacted on forest resources in Malawi.
“In different phases of the disease, affected people’s dependence on forest resources changes,” she explains. “For example, when people are sick (known as the morbidity phase) they rely heavily on medicinal plants to treat side effects of HIV-AIDS such as shingles and diarrhea.”
“Medicinal plants are so depleted now in the forests of Malawi, that people are collecting these from the forests of nearby Zambia and Mozambique.”
During this morbidity phase, people also increase their use of wild fruits and honey to improve their health and detoxify the effects of AIDS-related drug treatments. Fruits may also be in higher demand at this time because people at this stage lack the energy to collect firewood that is required to cook other foods.
HIV/AIDS sufferers also rely more on bushmeat for alternative income when they are sick.
Following AIDS-related deaths, households increase their use of timber to build coffins, for funerals and ceremonies. Forest lands are also being converted to cemeteries.
Timko asked local people in Malawi about how agroforestry could help to alleviate some of the burden HIV/AIDS places on them.
Among the interventions they mentioned were domesticating medicinal and fruit trees, planting fast-growing trees for firewood and creating community herbaria for traditional medicines. They would also like to see training provided on sustainable harvesting of medicinal plants as well as on honey production for food, medicine and income generation.
Agroforestry could go a long way towards protecting the forest resources of Malawi and providing important resources that HIV-AIDS-affected communities desperately need.
By Kate Langford
Globally, about 842 million people are undernourished – about 12% of the population – and more than 2 billion suffer from micronutrient deficiency, or “hidden hunger,” according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
This is a great improvement from 20 years ago, when 19% of people in the world were going hungry. Yet as poverty declines, demand for food rises. With the global population expected to grow from 7 billion today to nearly 10 billion by 2050, demand for cropland will be ever-higher, intensifying the pressure to clear forests for agricultural expansion.
The irony is that – although further research is needed – several studies have suggested that forests play a key role in nutrition and food security. For example, a study of 21 African countries, using data from health surveys of 93,000 children aged 1-5, found that children living close to forested areas tended to have more nutritious diets and consumed more fruits and vegetables. At the World Congress on Agroforestry, which I am attending this week in New Delhi, a full session was devoted to exploring the links between tree cover and nutrition. (…)
Read the full post by Swedish International Agricultural Network Initiative (SIANI)
Blogpost by Matilda Palm, a post-doctoral researcher in the Department of Energy and Environment, Chalmers University of Technology, and a member of the Forest, Climate & Livelihood Research Network (Focali). She is participating in the World Congress on Agroforestry as part of a collaboration between Focali and the Swedish International Agricultural Network Initiative (SIANI) around the theme.
Once every five years we celebrate the role of tree-based systems in human prosperity with an international congress. The World Congress on Agroforestry 2014 in Delhi, India, kicked off the second day of thematic sessions today with a programme on “Science Advances in Agroforestry”.
Although the Congress is multi-stakeholder by design, after the Policy prelude, the science segment sits in the middle between the business day and the development day as a better bridge for impact.
There are six million scientists in the world but less than 0.1% of them would likely described themselves as an agroforestry scientist. Although since Albert Einstein said “Science is a refinement of everyday thinking” perhaps everyone is a scientist in one form or another.
But all scientists (sensu stricto) and indeed all 7.2 billion humans alive today rely in one way or another on tree products and services – and therefore in a way rely on agroforestry scientists. Yes, give yourself a clap.
Also give a generous clap to the two keynote speakers that triggered our high quality science day:
Tatiana Sa from EMBRAPA in Brasil first led the captivated audience through a contextual history of agroforestry science finishing with why it is highly relevant today in the soon to be post-2015 era.
This was followed by Kate Schreckenberg’s (University of Southampton) expose of 21st Century Challenges and how social and biophysical agroforestry science can help unravel the conundrum of the planetary and societal boundaries. Kate also reminded us that we learn as much from our research failings as we do from our successes, and therefore we need to embrace them and publicish them more avidly.
The word “Science” is derived from a similar Latin word which means “to know” or “knowledge”. Overall three types of science were presented today in plenary and in 12 exciting parallel sessions accompanied by 350 posters;
Type 1 Science is where we have enough knowledge and we just need to extend it.
Type 2 Science is where we still have significant knowledge gaps that need filling. And…
Type 3 Science is where by testing different ways of extending knowledge we develop a co-learning framework on second generation research problems and impact delivery.
Perhaps the biggest delusional trap we all have to watch out for is believing that innovation and quality evidence is confined to Type 2 Science, especially of the purely academic variety.
We also have to avoid the outdated belief that it is local research and then repeated actions that lead to adoption and impact at scale when rather it will be research at scale that leads to local solutions and impact.
Type 1 Science does not have all the answers either in the belief that efforts to achieve greater impact will come from previous and currently successful innovations and interventions by just scaling them up. More likely the underlying reason for unrealised development impact is due to failed assumptions.
More specifically, it is a failure to list, test and/or adapt the assumptions upon which the design and implementation of development programmes were based. Through simple, linear and mechanistic planning the interactions between political, social, economic, biophysical and ecological systems have been ignored. These systems are not only complex but also dynamic, diverse and unpredictable. It is enigmatic therefore that we attempt to use simple and single knowledge solutions to solve complicated and complex problems.
Lastly, the issue of “communications of science” came up repeatedly in the sessions. Here we must all remember that knowledge does not diminish just because it is shared, and we need to be careful that the science of agroforestry does not become a foreign sort of secrecy.
Blogpost by Tony Simons, Director General, World Agroforestry Centre
Picture: Scientist in the World Agroforestry Centre seed bank
Coffee agroforestry system in Sierra de las Minas, Guatemala. Trees shade can be measured with MAESTRA, a light-interception model. Photo via Jonathan Cornelius/ICRAF
Kira Borden held the audience spellbound at the World Congress on Agroforestry 2014 as she described how radar can be used to map the roots of trees. Showing a slide of a team with picks and shovels bent double next to a tree, the University of Toronto PhD student said that using “ground penetrating radar (GPR) is easier than digging to find its roots”, up to now the conventional method.
“We can now conduct non-intrusive below-ground studies. Roots contain more water than dry soil and reflect back the radar beams, which create two dimension vertical profiles.” Knowledge of roots is particularly important in determining below-ground carbon; roots contain 20-40% of total tree biomass.
Borden was speaking on 12 February in the ‘New tools and paradigms’ session of the third ever global gathering on agroforestry. Chaired by ICRAF’s Tor Vagen, himself the developer of a method to map soil carbon and link it with remote sensing (see ICRAF Geoportal), the session profiled six innovations.
Fabien Charbonnier spoke about how to measure shade, a key issue in agroforestry systems as they strive to find optimal spatial arrangements and densities of trees. Reporting on MAESTRA, a three dimensional light interception model, he said that light “could now be assessed as a continuous variable.” Applying MAESTRA to coffee fields in Central America, he found that the effect of shade trees, Erythrina poeppigiana, was larger than the crown projection.
Staying in Central America, Bruno Rapidel reported on what happened when CAF2007, a numerical model for shade coffee systems, was combined with a participatory approach which involved farmers in designing agroforestry systems with multiple requirements and the interactions of several tree species.
“We interviewed 600 smallholder farmers producing premium coffee on small plots in an area of high erosion due to sleep slopes,” said Charbonnier. “The erosion is a threat to a new hydroelectric dam. So we wanted to know how many trees farmers needed to maximize production of coffee and payments for ecosystem services – received for reducing erosion. Involving farmers in the CAF2007 model helped us to explore a system that the farmers would accept and put in place.”
In a similar vein, Claude Garcia from ETH Zurich, spoke about using on-line role playing to understand farmers’ choices in the mountains of the Western Ghats in India. “Wicked problems are those with multiple stakeholders and many uncertainties. The answer is often processes rather than solutions.”
A wicked problem in the Western Ghats is the trend for farmers to remove of native trees and replace them with full sun coffee, a change which damages the ecosystem services, mainly water, delivered by the tree clad hills. Garcia’s on-line game, played by the farmers, gave them information on the coffee yields and the livelihood and biodiversity levels that resulted from their decisions. “We were able to generate a library of strategies and to create a decision tree.”
Finally, describing a non-technical approach, Clement Chenost of Moringa Fund spoke of agroforestry as an innovation in itself, which is still new to the private sector. Moringa Fund, the world’s first investment vehicle dedicated to agroforestry, currently has eight investors which have put in a total of EUR50 million. Chenost said agroforestry is highly profitable in the long run – producing timber, biomass, cash crops, carbon money and more, and that social risk could be lowered by well-designed out grower schemes. However, it was a mark of how complex investors find agroforestry that it took three years for Moringa to raise this sum.
“Industry is specialized, segmented, dominated by monoculture and in need of consciousness changing,” said the investment fund manager. “And agroforestry is complex with several species and markets and hundreds of thousands of smallholders. We need to communicate that this complexity can be managed.” Moringa Fund is advised by research organizations ICRAF, CIRAD and IRD.
By Cathy Watson
Head of Programme Development
World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF)
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100 year-old Caragana hedge; trees break the speed of fast-moving air. Photo by Doug Viste via Flikr.
In temperate regions, agricultural practices integrating leguminous trees and food or forage crops can sharply reduce overdependence on chemical fertilizers, and improve yields. Tree boundaries also shield pastures against fast-moving winds.
Discussing his findings at the ongoing World Congress on Agroforestry, Anthony Kimaro, a researcher with the World Agroforestry Centre, shared evidence where sufficient nitrogen was transferred from a Caragana tree (Siberian peashrub) shelterbelt in Canada to forage crops, thus replacing the use of fertilizers.
“It is important to note that the overuse of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer to meet the requirements of food and forage crops species contributes to environmental problems such as nitrate leaching to groundwater and enhanced greenhouse effects through N2O emissions,” Kimaro told a session at the Congress.
During the study, Kimaro with co-researchers planted fodder crops near a caragana shelterbelt to determine the amount of nitrogen transferred from the trees to crops.
The scientists later found out that plants close to the shelterbelt row received significantly higher percentage of nitrogen compared to those further away. “The nitrogen received was within the optimum application rates for these crops, meaning there was no longer any need to apply nitrogen based fertilizers,” he said.
According to Shibu Jose of University of Missouri Columbia, this is one of the sustainable solutions agroforestry can offer to existing global challenges.
According to Jose, other challenges that can be solved by agroforestry include food security, energy, water scarcity, greenhouse gases, loss of biodiversity, diseases and invasiveness.
“Agroforestry is the way to ‘bullet proof’ farms in the face of climate change,” he said.
A different study done in Chile by Alvaro Sotomayor, from Sede Biobío, Instituto Forestal, Concepcion, Chile, found that apart from fixing nitrogen into other crops, the trees reduced the velocity of wind, which is a disturbing factor in the Aysen temperate region of the country.
“The results obtained show that the trees managed under silvopastoral systems modified some ambient climatic parameters. The main parameter that was modified by the trees was average wind speed,” he told the session on Temperate Agroforestry at the Congress.
Sotomayor’s study evaluated the effect of Pinus contorta plantation, managed under two designed silvopastoral systems, in altering climatic parameters such as wind speed, wind chill, relative humidity, ambient temperature and precipitation that reached the ground, and its effect on livestock and prairie production.
By Isaiah Esipisu
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Chile’s Espinal landscape. Photo by Alejandro Lucero
Drylands are home to almost one in three people in the world and support half of the world’s livestock. But when we think of drylands, Chile is not a country that immediately comes to mind.
However in the ‘Mediterranean’ semi-arid region of Central Chile lies the Espinal. This savannah-like landscape covers 3.8 million hectares and is of great importance to small and medium scale farmers who graze their livestock under a canopy of native ‘espino’ or Acacia caven trees.
As Alejandro Lucero explained during his presentation at the Congress, the Espinal is a dryland agroforestry system under threat. “Overuse for grazing and timber extraction has left much of the Espinal highly degraded,” he explained.
Lucero believes conserving and rehabilitating this silvopastoral system could lead to social and environmental sustainability for farmers in Central Chile.
“The Espinal is one of the most important resources in semi-arid Chile,” said Lucero. It not only provides fodder for livestock but firewood and charcoal, fruits and seeds that produce flour, cosmetics and medicines.
The Acacia caven trees in this agroforestry system protect livestock from extremes of heat and cold. The trees also benefit the soil; contributing to nutrient cycling, adding organic matter and increasing the availability of moisture.
While the system is protected under the Native Forest Law, forest management plans currently fail to optimize its development and maintenance as a sustainable agroforestry system.
Lucero hopes that renewed interest and investment in the Espinal will lead to a global analysis of optimal pasture production, livestock and tree product harvesting that can sustain the system over the long-term.
By Kate Langford
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Download Alejandro Lucero’s abstract
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Related articles
Root-Bernstein, M and Jaksic F (2013) The Chilean Espinal: Restoration for a Sustainable Silvopastoral System. Restoration Ecology 21 (4): 409-414
Rewilding Chile’s savanna with guanacos could increase biodiversity and livestock
By Kate Langford
Badly-infected cocoa pods in Sulawesi. Photo by Enggar Paramita/ICRAF
Chocolate aficionados may have cause to worry, as some farmers in Sulawesi, the largest cocoa bean-producing island in Indonesia, are thinking of abandoning cocoa farming to grow other commodities.
Indonesia is the third-largest producer of cocoa in the world, behind Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. Sulawesi, the K-shaped island located in the eastern part of the country, is responsible for 67% of Indonesia’s cocoa production. Around 2.2 million smallholder farmers in Sulawesi grow cocoa on 1.5 million hectares, supplying most of the national production.
In recent years, farmers in Sulawesi have faced many problematic issues, and they are losing the appetite for cocoa cultivation.
A study presented at the World Congress on Agroforestry by Janudianto from the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) said the key problems in Sulawesi are high rates of pest and disease attack, limited access to high-quality germplasm, and poor farm management.
“These factors have lowered production, causing farmers to start replacing cocoa with fruit trees, pepper, rubber or oil palm,” said Janudianto.
To address the issues, the researcher conducted field observation and garden inventories in South and Southeast Sulawesi aiming to identify the types of smallholder cocoa agroforestry systems that farmers practice.
“We gathered information from the field, identifying the systems to recognize range of productivity, agro-biodiversity and economic profitability associated with smallholder systems,” Janudianto told the congress. “We need to get as much information as possible before settling on interventions,” he added.
The finding revealed 4 classifications of cocoa agroforestry systems that exist in South and Southeast Sulawesi: monocultures; cocoa integrated with shade trees; cocoa integrated with fruit and timber; and home gardens. Cocoa is the main commodity in all systems, with the exception of home gardens, where fruits and timber trees dominated.
According to Janudianto, identifying the system is only the initial step to addressing the cocoa issue in Sulawesi. Many other parties, such as the government of Indonesia, Indonesian Coffee and Cocoa Research Institute and the private sectors are also working on this question.
“At the end of the day, we intend to formulate a set of simple yet applicable technologies that is able to improve each type of cocoa agroforestry system,” outlined Janudianto.
In another study presented at the Congress, Christian Andres from Research Institute of Organic Agriculture in Switzerland conducted a field trial in Sara Ana, Bolivia. The objective was to compare cocoa production between high-input monoculture and low-input agroforestry. In the process, six systems of monocultures or agroforestry with conventional or organic management, and a fallow, were examined.
Preliminary results match the expectation that yields are higher in the monocultures. But the monocultures also had higher disease incidences than the agroforestry systems. In the agroforestry systems, there was a multitude of products beside cocoa that could be harvested, such as cassava, pineapple, maze and rice.
“The question on how well these products can compensate cocoa yield reduction—particularly in the first years when cocoa production lower—is yet to be answered,” said Andres.
By Enggar Paramita
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Related story:
Future of Chocolate in Danger! – by Christian Andres
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See more on Cocoa improvement
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Leading women and men farmers in India received Krishi Karman awards from Shri Pranab Mukherjee, Honourable President of India, during the WCA2014 inauguration ceremony on 10 February 2014. Photo by Ram Singh/ICRAF
There’s more to gender than meets the eye, according to scientists at the World Congress on Agroforestry in New Delhi, India. It’s easy to miss the forest because you’re looking at the trees.
To test this, close your eyes and imagine you’re looking at a farmer. What do you see?
A white man in a round-collared white shirt and black jacket holding an upright pitchfork? A Caucasian man driving an air-conditioned harvester through a flat-to-the-horizon field of golden wheat? An African man hoeing the earth in a savannah beneath a prickly tree? An Asian man herding ducks through a muddy paddy field?
If any of the above came to mind, you’re right.
But you also left out at least 50% of the other farmers in the world: women.
Well, of course you knew that farmers were female, too. If you did imagine women farming the land, then you were 50% right, too.
But what researchers who work in agricultural research for development are arguing is that gender is more than the state of being male or female.
‘Gender’ is also more than just sexual differentiation of roles. The idea has gone beyond sexuality to implicitly include marginalisation from choice, that is, being left out when decisions are made. And even admitting that assumptions about who is marginalized when and where can be wrong, that relations between the sexes can be complex and vary from locality to locality.
For example, researchers in Mali found that sheep herding, which was typically considered the role of women (implying a simple situation with a low skill set), was much more complex than first appeared. Men and women had different perceptions about what was involved in the job and about who should do what. Women in different stages of life had different roles and authorities.
In Nepal, there was huge outward migration of men in search of higher paid jobs, mainly to the Gulf States. They left to fulfil their cultural obligation to provide for their families. Consequently, much agricultural land was abandoned and agriculture was being ‘feminized’. Women were left to till the land and grow food for subsistence or sale. They made all the decisions, and did all the work, themselves.
In Malawi, researchers found another complex situation around who made decisions to plant trees. In nearly all cases it was the ‘head of the family’. But in the north of the country that meant women and in the south it meant men. But in both north and south, a good percentage of households made decisions jointly. Those that did led to denser tree cover.
The point seems to be that the best decisions are made in consultation with everyone who has an interest in the matter being decided upon, be they men or women or some other interest group or whoever.
On that note, gender specialists might take a look at the Bugis people of Sulawesi in Indonesia. Their ancient religion recognizes five genders: 1) men who identify as men; 2) men who identify as women; 3) women who identify as women; 4) women who identify as men; and 5) the bugis, the priest, who identifies with them all.
By Robert Finlayson
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PKR Nair at WCA2014. Photo by Robert Finlayson/ICRAF
PKR Nair, one of the world’s most respected scientists in the field of agroforestry or trees on farms, has charged his scientific peers with not producing the best science.
Speaking at the World Congress on Agroforestry in New Delhi, India, Nair claimed that the material he’d seen presented at the Congress of around 1000 researchers wasn’t innovative, wasn’t reporting failures, wasn’t sufficiently rigorous and was urging a rush towards wide-scale commercialization of agroforestry without sufficient evidence to support it.
“We’ve heard how agroforestry can do this, can do that. That agroforestry has so much potential, many advantages, offers many opportunities… and so on and on… But how much of what is being said is new?” he asked in his keynote address on the morning of Wednesday 12 February.
Nair, a Distinguished Professor at the University of Florida, considered that much of what was presented at the Congress wasn’t sufficiently rigorous. ‘It’s all very well to have our opinions but they must be based on fact. How many of the 200-plus presentations at this Congress are based on opinion versus facts? How many new hypotheses have been proposed? How many papers with results that can be replicated? And how many negative results have been presented?’
The co-editor of the 2012 landmark text, Agroforestry: the future of global land use, further claimed that an intellectual crisis was assailing the research community. “Where are the breakthroughs and innovations being hailed at this Congress? All we are hearing is what we already know. And even that is basic stuff. Is this a sign that we are facing intellectual bankruptcy? Is there nothing left to learn?”
Not content with criticizing the research credentials of his peers, Nair went on to note that there was an unseemly rush to push large-scale commercialization of agroforestry despite there not being enough evidence to support it nor sufficient study done on the potential negative effects. “We shouldn’t forget that the Green Revolution became the Greed Revolution,” he said.
Ravi Prabhu, the deputy director-general of research at the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), one of the co-organizers of the congress, replied that, “I respect Professor Nair’s observations and opinion. It is an important role, that of critical challenger, especially in the sciences.”
“But the fact is that no gathering will produce 100% new material. And the presentation of basic research is important for younger researchers to understand the tenets of the science. Indeed, one of the most critical functions of this event is to bring together researchers of all stages of career from all over the world to discuss the complexities of research into agroforestry systems. It is through events like this that we help build the next generation of scientists.”
Commercialization, argued Prabhu, was nothing new and hardly constituted an unholy alliance that was rushing headlong to disaster. Rather, the discussions at the congress between scientists and business leaders all revolved around how best to ensure that environmental and social goals could be met along with economic ones.
“We’re witnessing the birth of a new way of doing business with local communities thanks to our partnerships with these companies,” he said.
“Together, we are carefully exploring new ways of protecting the environment through financial incentives and helping to bring millions out of poverty. The business people we talk with acknowledge that mistakes have been made in the past. They want to avoid them in their own businesses. They agree that the way to do this is to work collaboratively with local communities rather than imposing large-scale ‘solutions’ from above.”
Prabhu has previously gone on the record saying that the World Agroforestry Centre is an organization “where focused, rigorous research provides the evidence that guides the policies of decision makers from the household through to national and global levels: the kind of decisions that help to direct investments to their most useful purposes.”
In the world of science, disagreements such as this are basic to getting to the truth. They provoke researchers to more fervently find new ways to solve humanity’s pressing problems.
By Robert Finlayson
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Lushoto Mountain Squirrel in Mazumbai Forest, Usambara Mountains, Tanzania. The region is one of the richest biodiversity hotspots in the world. Photo by David d’O via Flikr
To understand the term “motivational crowding” in Tanzania’s agroforestry, one needs to go all the way to Israel and into a day care center…
An experiment by Uri Gneezy and Aldo Rustichini tried to understand: How can parents be motivated to pick up their children from the day care center on time? A financial penalty was introduced to reduce the occurrence of the late pickups. But it had the exact opposite effect: the incidence of parents coming late increased distinctly instead of decreasing! When parents found that they could simply compensate their guilt for a few dollars, many had simply jumped at the opportunity. It turned out that non-financial motivations like the shame of public apology, guilt of being late and inconveniencing others were more effective.
Back to Tanzania and Agroforestry: An experiment in the East Usambara Mountains tried to understand, “Can people be motivated to do conservation via financial compensation and would they continue to do so even after they stop receiving benefits?”
The region is one of the richest biodiversity hotspots in the world. It has a tropical climate where almost anything grows. This study analyses whether an incentive-based policy for promoting agroforestry and forest conservation impacts attitudes towards conservation adversely in the long term. Would payments for ecosystem services (PES) provide a direct incentive to landholders to adopt agroforestry ?
According to Brent Swallow, WCA 2014 presenter from University of Alberta, “Different people treat land differently. Some people see land as a part of life. It is part of an inheritance and as their legacy they want to leave behind a healthy landscape. On the other spectrum we have people who only see land as an economic input. The challenge of this research is to understand the tradeoff between intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors which influence behavior. And whether Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) has a negative effect on intrinsic motivation to conserve after policy gets over.”
The research threw up interesting results. It found, for instance, that neither PES nor regulation treatment undermined intrinsic motivation in the long run; in other words, persistent motivational crowding out. In fact, regulation treatments showed some evidence of the opposite: a positive effect beyond the life of the policy. It was also noticed that significantly different responses can be seen from subsets of the same population when exposed to similar choices, even if the population was relatively homogenous in terms of key socio-demographic characteristics. Hence, policy targeting at a subset level might be a more effective strategy.
In all, the research interestingly uses a sociological perspective to provide experimental evidence that overall motivational crowding may not be a large cause for concern regarding the use of PES policies for agroforestry and forest conservation.
By Nitasha Nair
Ms Nair is a Senior Communication Officer with the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) – India
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Carrying firewood in Rwanda. Photo by Daisy Ouya/ICRAF
Farmers can generate a future with sustainable wood fuel energy simply by stimulating timber trees to produce coppices, the World Congress on Agroforestry has been told.
Christian Dupraz of l’Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Paris, France, told the ongoing Congress in New Delhi India that stimulating coppices on timber trees by pruning them has more advantages than just producing fuelwood.
“Pollarded trees produce high quality energy, keep the environment evergreen and allow farmers to intercrop other within the woodlots because of the reduced shade,” he said in a session discussing production of biofuels using trees as a sustainable source of energy.
Pollarding is a process where upper branches of a tree are removed, promoting a dense head of foliage and branches. Some communities pollard trees so that they can produce more foliage to be used as fodder, while other do it as a way of producing fuelwood. In Kenya, miraa (khat) farmers pollard the khat trees so that they can produce more branches for more leaves.
Following experimentations done in Papua Guinea, Durpraz said the best woodlot species for coppicing among the samples were Eucalyptus grandis for the highlands and E.tereticornis for the lowlands.
During the same session, Philip Dobie of the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) said the world needs to take a long step back and start looking at the potential of using wood as a source of energy.
“The developing world highly depends on biomass for cooking, producing charcoal and for warmth. The truth is that demand for wood fuel is expected to increase in all parts of the world,” said Dobie, who is also affiliated with the University College Cork in Ireland.
“There is an urgent need to rehabilitate the reputation of trees for energy, include trees in energy policies, and a need to form a global platform for tree-based energy,” he told the forum.
As the deadline for the Millennium Development Goals draw closer, Dr Dobie said that there is need to begin influencing the post-2015 goals so that tree based energy is part of the agenda.
The scientists further noted that there was need to improve cooking facilities so as to save energy, as well need to exploit liquid biofuels.
According to the Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), more than two billion people depend on wood energy for cooking and heating, particularly in households in developing countries.
CIFOR estimates that in parts of Africa, wood fuel is often the only domestically available and affordable source of energy. Estimates suggest that biomass energy in sub-Saharan Africa will account for about three-quarters of total residential energy by 2030.
By Isaiah Esipisu
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Related story:
Unpacking the evidence on firewood and charcoal in Africa
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Losing the Sumatran orangutan would be a loss to the world over. Photo by Kip Lee
In discussions at the World Congress on Agroforestry about agroforestry and nature you could begin to believe that the ecosystem services provided by forests and agroforests are the same. They aren’t. Trees outside forests will never be able to replicate the ecosystem service functions provided by forests.
Forests and agroforests are very different.
Before we get started on these differences, there is one exception. Multi-strata agroforestry systems which occur across the humid tropics in countries such as Indonesia and Cameroon do emulate natural forests. However, these agroforestry systems are not profitable to the farmers who manage them, so they are rapidly disappearing. In Indonesia for example, multistrata rubber agroforests are being replaced by plantation rubber, which is three times more profitable.
Leaving aside the fact that there are differing definitions for primary, secondary, old growth, plantation and degraded forests, a forest is a complex ecosystem that forms a habitat and supports a whole range of species, including in some cases humans.
The ecosystem services provided by forests are global public goods. If you cut down forests, you lose that habitat, that ecosystem and the services it provides forever. Losing the Sumatran orangutan or tiger is a loss to the world over.
An agroforest is essentially part of an agricultural landscape. The World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) defines agroforestry as ‘the inclusion of trees in farming systems and their management in rural landscapes to enhance productivity, profitability, diversity and ecosystem sustainability’. An agroforest is not an ecosystem or plant community that supports wildlife, it is a farming system.
While agroforestry can bring trees back into the landscape, it will never replicate a forest. So what then is the role of agroforestry in ecosystem services?
At the farm level, trees create a distinct microclimate that supports the growth of crops. They have the potential to improve soil fertility and soil stability, increase plant species richness and structural complexity and they provide habitats for animals.
At the landscape scale, trees have an important role in creating ‘corridors’ between forest patches that allow for animal movement and cross-breeding which keeps the tree populations healthy. They also do store large amounts of carbon and thus can offset greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural fields. Agroforests enhance agrobiodiversity and with this comes greater pest resistance. They also have an aesthetic value; people like to look at trees.
So, how can we bring more trees into the landscape through agroforestry to provide these important ecosystem services?
A farmer is not going to plant a tree because it will store carbon to mitigate climate change. The tree has to provide the farmer with income or some other tangible benefit, without compromising on their primary crop or livestock production.
The farmer as a producer of the food we eat is only one part of the picture. Perhaps some of the discussions occurring between scientists, leading agri-business players and policy makers during this Congress will translate to increased corporate responsibility initiatives and greater political will to make trees in agricultural landscapes a viable and reliable option for farmers.
And when those farmers do engage in agroforestry, don’t be mistaken, it will be as an agricultural activity driven by profit. They might not be creating a forest, but they will be creating healthier landscapes.
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By Anja Gassner and Kate Langford.
Dr. Gassner leads the Research Methods Group at the World Agroforestry Centre
Ms Langford is a science writer
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Farmers can expand their agroforestry business if they have access to practical science-based knowledge. It enables them to design their own homegrown agroforestry models determining when, where, how and what type of trees to plant on their farms, as opposed to making decisions based on models designed by outsiders.
The Australian Agroforestry Foundation has developed a course for farmers using an innovative model. The Master TreeGrower (MTG) program was developed over 20 years by Rowan Reid, the Foundation’s Coordinator.
The course trains farmers through shared experiences and group discussions rather than relying primarily on a teacher – student model. The objective is to ensure the development of forests is driven by the aspirations of the farmer and backed up by the best available scientific knowledge.
Reid says the program does not promote particular species, products or farm management options. It is conducted in a way that reflects the objectives and experience of the local farmer.
The program has been implemented since 1996 in Australia. More than 100 courses have been conducted involving over 2,000 farmers.
The Foundation assessed if the approach used to engage tree-growing farmers in Australia, would also applicable in the developing world. In 2013 the foundation conducted its first course in Kabale, Uganda.
“We see more similarities between farmers in Australia and Africa, than there are differences”, said Reid, ” We are now exploring Niger and Indonesia”.
“Landowners whether big or small are capable of making decisions and can balance between long and short-term objectives especially when they have to balance between different needs and competing priorities. We need to embed our science as input into the discussions, and guide farmers to solve their own problems rather than us trying to provide them with solutions”.
Blogpost by Daniel Kapsoot, edited by Peter Casier
Picture courtesy The Australian Agroforestry Foundation
Some scientists and businesses think they can help us bypass a fiery doom by developing new products that do less harm to the planet and poor people. Let’s hope they’re right this time.
Scientists and businesses have thought they’d got it right before. Like in the Green Revolution of the 1960s: chemical fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides were widely introduced along with new crop varieties, leading to increased yields that saved the world from starvation.
Problem was it also led to widespread pollution—with serious, long-term, negative effects on the health of humans and ecosystems—and the conversion of forests to intensive agricultural production, which has helped warm the planet and force everyone to rethink how we feed ourselves.
So will the new Sustainability Revolution have its own downside? Truth is, no one knows. We have to try it. And test whether the ‘new paradigm’ can deliver on its promises of improving poor people’s livelihoods while protecting the environment.
What’s being done?
Scientists from the World Agroforestry Centre are working alongside large multinational food companies to bring Allanblackia into widespread production as part of smallholders’ agroforests in Africa. In case you haven’t heard of it, Allanblackia is an oil-producing tree native to parts of said continent.
The scientists claim that the oil is superior to that produced from oil palm and that the tree is kind to African environments when grown by local farmers on their small pieces of land.
The European Union wants to buy 100,000 tonne a year for use in food, soap and the like. But export in 2012 from the three producer countries—Tanzania, Ghana and Nigeria—was only 210 tonne.
That’s a large gap between demand and supply. And so enters the alliance of scientists and companies, to spread the good word about the tree and find, grow and distribute the best seeds and seedlings. They are training farmers in what to do with it: planting, maintenance, harvesting, processing, transport and marketing. In another few years, the 8 million or so trees that are needed to meet the demand will be planted and farmers’ livelihoods will be improved along with the environment.
Meanwhile, in Colombia
A commodity-trading firm has been working with local communities on the margins of one of the world’s last remaining highly biodiverse natural forests. About ten years ago, the firm was asked by a development agency if they could find a way to make money from carbon trading and so protect the forest and help the locals.
The firm found they couldn’t: carbon markets were young, unstable and had low returns. But they thought they might be able to make money from working with the communities to establish commodity crops on degraded land.
They talked for four years about it. First they talked about oil palm. But they found there were problems with the biophysical conditions. So they turned to cocoa. The demand for chocolate was increasing and supply was falling globally owing to pests and diseases and aging stock.
To get the highest return for their investment, they settled on high-quality cocoa species because buyers were willing to pay a premium, which helped to offset the cost of the necessary certification.
And so they started planting. Now they have 1200 hectares and will expand to another 1000. As well as cash, there have been other benefits, such as helping to protect mangrove forests and biodiversity, and a general improvement in community wellbeing.
The firm sees that the challenge is to transform this successful project into a successful business. To do that they need a critical mass of cocoa-producing trees, professional management and profits that will allow the venture to get access to finance and expand.
According to the firm, the whole project isn’t about ‘corporate social responsibility’ but the development of a new ‘environmental markets’ business. For them, it is the ‘way of the future’. The Colombia project is an initial experimental investment which will eventually result in a financial return.
Meanwhile, at the World Congress on Agroforestry
At the Congress, several senior corporate executives were being quizzed about their companies’ commitment to environmental certification of various products. Did they believe that such certification would help save the planet and make them, and the farmers, richer?
No, not really. Rather, certification of products as ‘environmentally friendly’ wasn’t considered terribly important or effective. What was important, they said, was collaborating with smallholding farmers in developing countries to achieve the outcomes that everyone wanted: more income and a healthy environment. They had realised that if they wanted to survive not only as businesses but as individual humans, they needed to do business in a more holistic way.
So it does seem, if schemes like these work and the model of sustainable cooperation for environmental and economic benefit becomes widespread, that capitalism might indeed be able to adapt to save not only itself but also the planet.
Blogpost by Rob Finlayson
Picture courtesy David Miller
Every day, our social media team works hard to capture the sessions and discussions at the World Congress on agroforestry, through our social media channels.
A dozen blogposts go online through the day (and night), and a small army of reporters capture the discussions through live tweets, pictures and video. Updates are posted on Facebook and summarized every night via our Storify mash-up:
This mash-up of our social media output was made by Esther Kimani (ICRAF)
Once every five years we celebrate the role of tree-based systems in human prosperity with an international congress. The World Congress on Agroforestry 2014 in Delhi, India, opened the thematic sessions today with a programme on “The Business Case of Agroforestry”. Although the Congress is largely billed as a Science Event the rationale was to start with the demand side for knowledge, tools and technologies rather than the typical supply side – “this is what we know, is it helpful?”. In doing so it was essentially challenging researchers to filter out the difference between “what we need to know” and “what it would be nice to know”.
This “demand-pull” for knowledge comes from both the small-scale farmer and the large multinational, as well as the policy maker that straddles knowledge to action. Imagine the Chamber of Commerce from a middle income country arriving in a developing country which wants more Foreign Direct Investment asking the question “should we invest in tourism, the steel industry or agroforestry enterprises?”.
However, in agroforestry, forget for now the Chamber of Commerce since the biggest shareholder, the largest producer and the actual day-to-day business person making it happen is the small-scale farmer. The 500 million smallholders of the developing world are the real and the hidden private sector that need better recognition and nurturing. But how many smallholders have a business plan, have sufficient capital, keep a risk register, have access to credit, or maintain good records? We know that 90% of small businesses fail in their first year from start up. So will smallholder farmers be any different? What safety nets, what diversification strategies, what support platforms do they have?
Agroforestry systems, practices and the tree products emanating from them are well recognised as having high environmental and high social value but less well known for their financial remuneration. This misconception though was blown away for us today with the presentations and thoughts from the top-profile business panel comprising Howard Shapiro (MARS), Bernard Giraud (Livelihoods Venture & DANONE), Tristan Le Comte (PurProject), Shri Krishna Byre Gowda (Chief Minister Agriculture, Karnataka) and Ranjit Barthakur (Tata Consulting Services).
Howard Shapiro stunned the audience with a pictorial tour around the world of what works well and why in agroforestry systems of relevance to MARS Inc.. He put success down to urgency, uncommon collaborations, up-front investment and action.
Bernard Giraud described the highly successful Livelihoods Venture that has a good financial return coupled with a high social and environmental returns. In Bernard’s view efficient knowledge and technology discovery had to be combined with local ownership and cost-effective programmes, and not boutique research projects.
Tristan Le Compte was effusive for his belief in the profitability of various agroforestry enterprises, citing an average rate of return of 49% for a portfolio of agroforestry options. This was possible he indicated through the concepts of creating shared value.
The link between the social and knowledge dimensions was well captured by Ranjit Barthakur with the phrase “emotional technology”. He called for better metrics to assess success ensuring the lens of evaluation had to consider impacts on air, energy, soil, waste and water.
Amongst such a stellar panel from the private sector though it was left to the State policymaker, Shri Krishna Byre Gowda to really stun the audience. In all my life I had never heard a policymaker say “I want to be a facilitator and not a regulator” but that is how Minister Gowda made the participants gasp in amazement. Right down to grass roots level he wanted the private sector to not just be the end market but to be a driver of change with inputs, knowledge and services. Karnataka is definitely open for business.
From such a stimulating session, and the follow-up discussions, it is hard to draw out a definitive list of top ten things that need to happen – so please take the following as a work in progress:
- The business case for agroforestry will generally only thrive in places where there is a coalition of actors working together, sharing information, risk and profits.
- The production economics of AF need to be better estimated and articulated for both individual products as well as a basket of options.
- It is great to work with individual farmers but they need to be catalysts or nuclei to cluster groups, associations, interest groups or cooperatives around.
- We will ignore the gender question at our peril. Women farmers alone and as couples will provide much of the drive, innovation and sustainability of AF markets. It is not just gender balance we seek but gender synergy.
- Supply Chain risks to not only processors but also producers need better identification and management
- Value chain development for AF tree products needs more work as home consumption will not make farmers rich.
- Farmers can only plant and NGOs can only promote what is available, and quality tree planting material is often a bottleneck.
- Private sector actors need to stop competing in pre-competitive arenas and better align together as well as with sub-national and national policy-makers
- Greater dialogue is needed between policymakers and private sector (MNCs, aggregators, traders, producers) to create and exploit an enabling business environment.
- Need to establish efficient, effective and achievable Agroforestry Sustainability Goals and Standards – recognizing the cross-sectoral nature of the wider land management issues and flexibility required for local contextualization using a balance sheet approach for resource use efficiency, food security, raw material sourcing, land health, water, farmer institutions, equity, food waste, and nutrition.
It is hard to be a prophet in your own land but this session showed there is a profit in your own land – if you choose to use agroforestry!!
By Dr.Tony Simons (Director General of the World Agroforestry Centre)
Photo by Ram Singh/ICRAF
Farmer training in Bulukumba, South Sulawesi.
Photo by Enggar Paramita/ICRAF
Farmer to farmer communication might be the most effective way to ensure widespread adoption of agroforestry.
“Often farmers don’t have access to research being disseminated by extension services, so they learn from other successful farmers,” explained Endri Martini of the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) during a session at a session on ‘Bridging Science and Development’ at World Congress on Agroforestry.
When Martini and colleagues asked farmers in Sulawesi, Indonesia what was their most effective source of information on agriculture, they rated other farmers ahead of extension agents.
People from the villages they studied in South Sulawesi and Southeast Sulawesi got roughly half their information about agriculture, health and education from inside the village (such as through village leaders, farmer groups, friends and family) and half from outside the village (e.g. media, government agencies, projects and people from other villages).
Men tended to get more information from outside the village than women because men have more opportunities to visit other areas.
Farmers said they adopted the top 3 favoured agroforestry innovations (planting new species in agroforestry systems, vegetative propagation and gaining access to improved planting material) equally from farmers or farmer groups and agroforestry projects. Only 4 percent said they had adopted these through extension agents.
Recognizing the important role of farmer to farmer communication, the World Agroforestry Centre has begun running farmer field schools as part of its work in Sulawesi. They have identified lead farmers who can disseminate innovation and organized cross-visits between successful and struggling farmers.
“Farmer to farmer communication is particularly crucial in areas that extension agents rarely visit, where language is a barrier and where there is poor infrastructure,” says Martini.
Her presentation struck a chord with participants at a session that included a range of other presentations addressing why it is that science often does not have the envisaged impact on development.
Christian Borgemeister suggested there are 3 factors needed for science to trigger development: transdisciplinary research, capacity development and symmetrical partnerships.
Tatiana Deane de Abreu Sá who works on agroforestry systems in the Brazilian Amazon also emphasized the need for many disciplines to be involved, in addition to effective collaborations with farmers.
In scaling-up Evergreen Agriculture in Africa, GIZ and ICRAF rely on partnerships with a wide range of stakeholders to reduce barriers and spread the science to farmers. In Ethiopia, greasing the wheels for up-scaling the use of Faidherbia albida (a fertilizer tree) from 1 to 2 million farms will require a “multistakeholder and multidisciplinary approach,” say Joerg Lohmann and Alice Muller.
So, should the dissemination of agroforestry innovation be left to farmers?
Martini believes that improving communication between farmers, agroforestry research agencies and local governments holds the key to providing the information which is needed to extend agroforestry across Sulawesi and indeed Indonesia.
As Borgemeister pointed out, “We need more solution-oriented research.” Listening to farmers and their needs is crucial. Innovation doesn’t always start with science.
By Kate Langford
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Further reading
Abstract of Endri Martini’s presentation
Kiptot E, Franzel S (2013). Voluntarism as an investment in human, social and financial capital: evidence from a farmer-to-farmer extension program in Kenya. Agriculture and Human Values.
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We need to combine the science of discovery and the science of delivery: Simons.
Photo by Ram Singh/ICRAF
Scientists, farmers, donors, policy makers and marketers of agroforestry products are working in isolated groups, making it difficult to complete the value chain, according to experts at the ongoing World Congress on Agroforestry in Delhi, India.
In one of the sessions to discuss the role of business in accelerating the impacts of agroforestry, Bernard Giraud, the president of Livelihood Ventures, a mutual fund with the global food company Danone and other investors,said that there is need for agroforestry researchers to have sound working relationship with governments, farmers and development partners.
His sentiments were echoed by Shri Krishna Byre Gowda, the minister of agriculture in Karnataka state in South West India. “As a policy maker, it is good to admit that we have failed in bridging the gap between the researchers and farmers,” he told the forum.
He observed that researchers have already developed solutions to some of the existing problems, but many governments have ignored the researchers, thinking that they (governments) have the capacity to do everything for the farmers
“We have left it for the companies to take the poor farmers for a ride,” he lamented.
According to Giraud, one way of interesting farmers in agroforestry business is by creating a business-oriented environment. “The best way to stimulate the farmers’ interests is by creating projects that are able to reward the results, and research that is closer to the people,” he said. “We need the farmers to own the research being done on the ground,” he stated.
Giraud’s organization’s mission is to support the efforts of agricultural and rural communities to live in sustainable ecosystems which serve as the foundation of their food security and provide the resources that ensure their sustainability.
The experts pointed out that several researches have been done, but governments have implemented some of them in blanket form. “That is wrong. We must understand that as much as technologies are developed, some challenges are specific. So, solutions do not address all the challenges uniformly,” said the Indian legislator.
According to Tony Simons, the director general of the World Agroforestry Centre, agroforestry is the best way to build a sustainable future. “We need to think big and act big. We need to combine the science of discovery and the science of delivery. We need to be performance based,” he told the Congress.
The experts at the forum observed that one of the entry points is working with farmer groups instead of targeting individual farmers, in order to create an agroforestry business environment.
By Isaiah Esipisu
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Related blogs:
How to improve the marketing strategy for timber and related tree products in Indonesia
For smallholders, an abundance of opportunities in climate-smart farming
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Rose Koech, at her farm in Kenya. She grows fodder trees, shrubs and grass for dairy cattle. ICRAF/Sherry Odeyo
Several studies have confirmed that women smallholder farmers produce most of the food eaten particularly in African and Asian Countries. But according to Tony Simons, the Director General for the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), gender balance is yet to be fully realized in the field of agroforestry.
“In about 200 abstracts being presented at the ongoing World Congress on Agroforestry, only six papers mention gender, and that is a challenge to all of us,” Simons told the Congress while opening a plenary session to discuss the business of agroforestry in relation to science.
The UN Food and Agriculture organization (FAO) estimates that women produce between 60 and 80 per cent of the food in most developing countries, and are responsible for half of the world’s food production. In Asia, FAO estimates that they provide between 50 and 90 percent of labor for rice cultivation, an industry that supplies many African countries.
Simons said there is need to consider gender equity in all aspects of agroforestry ranging from policy, decision making, research, to markets.
Some of the studies presented at the World Congress on Agroforestry reveal that women are still oppressed, especially in the developing world.
One of the studies done in India by Purabi Bose of the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and co-researchers shows that despite the fact that women spent most of their time working on the farms, most of the land in the study area was still owned or claimed by men.
This is worsened by the fact that after the work is done by women, men turn around to make decisions during harvesting and marketing of the farm produce.
In another study from Indonesia presented at the Congress by Ratna Akiefnawati of the World Agroforestry Centre, labor in the study area is generally based on family members, but there is a clear division of farm duties between women and men – which has been the trend since time immemorial. “Women are responsible for the rice fields, their backyard and house work while men are responsible for rubber production and marketing,” said Akiefnawati.
Scientists have pointed out that Africa, in particular, will not achieve a green revolution unless she seriously incorporates farm input use with agroforestry. Hence, women are key to implementing the scientific findings, especially on small holdings.
In another study by scientists from the World Agroforestry Centre, Evelyne Kiptot and Steven Franze found out that the lower involvement of women in agroforestry reflects their lack of resources, particularly land and labour, coupled with their already heavy workload.
By Isaiah Esipisu
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Are we doing enough to secure livestock fodder for farmers in India’s tough terrains?
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Wadi agroforestry has remained and spread in Channapur. Photo courtesy of James Brockington
New findings from a village in India fly in the face of the oft-held fear that project interventions on smallholder farms are doomed to whittle away after the project ends.
Presenting at a session at the World Congress on Agroforestry 2014, Bangor University researcher James Brockington said in the village of Channapur in Karnataka, the number of smallholder farmers practicing the Wadi system of agroforestry had not reduced, but grown from 31 households when the project ended in 2005, to 38 households 5 years on.
The 2010 assessment of the spread of the wadi agroforestry system, introduced between 2001 and 2005 in an action-research project funded by DFID in conjunction with BAIF, also indicates that farmers are able to adopt—and adapt—complex agroforestry practices to suit their conditions. This debunks another misconception that smallholders can only embrace simple technologies; Wadi is a complex, multi-component, multi-product agroforestry practice.
Wadi means ‘small orchard’ in Gujirati, and involves intercropping fruit trees and crops inside a boundary of multipurpose trees. The system normally has a farm pond, and is enclosed by a dry fence.
The system was co-developed with tribal communities in south Gujarat, and this might be one of the reasons Wadi has remained and spread in the area.
Another important contributor to the growth and resilience of wadi, said Brockington, was the training, free planting materials and small cash incentives for preparatory groundwork provided to willing farmers during the project. Technical support offered over the 3-year implementation period was also critical, particularly in 2003 when a drought threatened to wipe out gains made over the past year.
“Farmers in Channapur reported higher fruit and timber yields, as well as better harvests of crops, as a result of soil and water conservation practices,” said Brockington. “And crop yields rose even before the benefits from the sale of tree products came through.”
Channapur is in Dharwad District, a semi-arid zone with annual rainfall of less than 850 mm. It is categorised as a ‘less favoured’ area of India, defined by fragile natural resource base and/or limited access to markets and infrastructure.
At the beginning of the project in 2002, only the relatively wealthier households adopted the wadi system (making up 60% of the adopters), with the poorest households recording a mere 3% uptake. At the assessment in 2010, the system was being used by both richer and poorer farmers, and over 90% of the initial adopters continued to practice it.
These preliminary findings are highly encouraging, said Brockington, and point to the need for projects to conduct ex-post analyses some years after project interventions terminate. Furthermore, there is a need to measure impact in terms of farmers’ incomes and livelihoods, rather than simply uptake; this needs well-targeted and robust data at the start of projects.
Another speaker at the same session, Sudhir P. Ahlawat of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, presented data on the use of bamboo intercropped with chickpea and sesame in semi-arid area of central India. “Bamboo sales compensate any monetary losses of intercrop, through the harvesting of culms. From the sale of bamboo culms, you can get an income of between 12,000 to 35,000 Rupees every year, without any more investment on your part,” said Ahlawat.
Bamboo has another benefit of repairing the soil. “Soil pH, organic carbon and available phosphorous all increased with bamboo.”
Ahlawat recommended that long-term intercrops with bamboo are spaced wider (over 10 x 10 meters apart), to avoid competition for nutrients with crops. Also, “planting of bamboo lines in an east-west direction will reduce the shade effect.”
In his presentation, Prasad V. Jasti said the benefit: cost ratio of certain tree-based interventions in arid and semi-arid areas can be up to 5.5. “The agroforestry systems also provide stability during years of severe drought,” he added.
Jasti recommended a review of the restrictive regulations around the sale of farm-grown timber, which might discourage farmers from growing trees.
In his presentation, Arun Misra discussed the success of participatory pasture development with trees. By securing a year-round supply of fodder, the system has led farmers to increasingly choose to rear better-quality milking animals instead of keeping large numbers of less productive stock.
“The appropriate combination and management of trees, shrubs, crops, grasses and livestock units will make agriculture a profitable proposal in the face of climate change challenges,” stated Misra in his talk.
Murari M. Roy of the Central Arid Zone Research Institute in Jodhpur, said for dry areas, “agroforestry with livestock integration offers a great scope in combating ill effects of climate change.”
Matilda Palm of the Chalmers University of Technology, discussed the opportunities for restoring degraded and vulnerable lands with agroforestry systems, based on a comparative study from Sri Lanka and Vietnam.
Like any good deal, when an agroforestry system works for farmers and they have appropriate support, it can spread far and wide, usually driven by farmer-to-farmer sharing of knowledge. In India, an estimated 500,000 farmers are currently practicing the Wadi agroforestry system.
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By Daisy Ouya
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Are we doing enough to secure livestock fodder for farmers in India’s tough terrains
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Healthy livestock need year-round supply of good quality fodder. Photo by Sherry Odeyo/ICRAF
As a farmer who is involved in dairy, I know how important fodder is in lives of farmers who keep livestock. For a farmer with livestock, the day revolves around procuring good fodder for the animals.
I practice dairy farming in the Terai belt of Uttar Pradesh which is very fertile. We get good biomass yields of fodder such as maize, barseem, sorghum, oats and napier grass.
But even in our good topographical conditions and favorable climate, we have to be very careful with our planning for fodder for different seasons of the year. A delay in sowing fodder crop such as sorghum can mean no fodder for animals in the Monsoon months of June, July and August, when we get very heavy rainfall. These tough months can be very difficult for both farmers and livestock. So, Very Good Planning for the year is needed if you want good amounts of fodder for your animals throughout the year.
What about farmers in hilly areas and the drylands of my country, India?
Prior to the World Congress on Agroforestry I had never thought about how farmers there feed their livestock. As a farmer from the plains, the difficulties livestock farmers in the hills and drylands face had never occurred to me. I first learned about it from reading a blog on WCA2014 by Mahesh Chander on Fodder, Livestock and Women, where he described how women climb trees and go to far-off places in search of fodder for their animals.
I got to learn about this topic in detail when I attended session on tree fodder and animal nutrition, on 10February 2014 at Congress.
The Presentation on Sustainable fodder production strategy through utilization of wastelands in hills by Jaideep Kumar Bisht was very informative. He covered two North Indian States with hilly topography—Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
To my surprise, I learnt that during tough-weather months, 70 percent of the animal diet in Himalayan ecosystems comes from trees, and that tree fodder has been undergoing serious research in these regions.
But women here are still totally working for their livestock. More has to be done to bring relief for these women.
In Uttarakhand State which has only 10 percent of irrigated area, growing fodder is not possible on such land as this has to be utilized for growing crops. In Himachal Pradesh the major area is under forest. In both the states farmers are dependent on wastelands for fodder requirements.
Bisht discussed reasons why we are not able to meet the fodder requirements of farmers in hilly areas; he mentioned constraints such as ecology and management problems, and stated that there is lack of community organization, which the State Government should take care of.
If the State Government is able to utilize Panchayati lands for fodder, which they can do by organizing farmers into groups and encouraging them to grow grasses with leguminous crops here, this can to a large extent meet communities’ fodder requirements. Bisht clarified that since nobody will apply fertilizers to grasses in grasslands, intercropping with leguminous crops takes care of the nitrogen requirement of grasses, and give much higher biomass than if grasses were grown alone.
He further discussed the results of trials his team has conducted on grasslands in Uttarakhand, which showed promising results for meeting fodder requirements. He emphasized the importance of Community Organization, if we are to meet the challenge of declining fodder for farmers in hilly areas.
In Himachal Pradesh, most of the land is under Pine forests, he stated. So fodder has to come from forest lands, where he said that after several experiments they got success in growing Napier grass under pine trees. The good thing about hybrid Napier grass is that it gives good yield until frosting starts, and regenerates as soon as temperature starts rising. Hybrid Napier is adopted by farmers on farmlands as well.
Then he moved on to discuss Terrace Risers, and showed the right combinations of trees and fodder crops for the entire year.
Overall, Bisht’s presentation gave the audience good insights into the actual problems and constraints faced by farmers in meeting fodder requirements, and workable solutions to meet these challenges.
I agree with Bisht’s point that unless these options are implemented by government, extension officers and organizers, the situation in these states is unlikely to improve. Government will have to make efforts to utilize wastelands and the floor of forested lands for fodder, and bring farmers together for their overall wellbeing and to relieve their hard lives.
The audience appreciated his work. I, too, was happy to see that there is a way out for farmers who struggle hard in tough terrains to find fodder for their livestock.
Good job, Bisht!
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By Nikki Pilania Chaudhary
Farmer, Pilibhit, Uttar Pradesh, India
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Teak in a landscape in Sumbawa, West Nusa Tenggara
In Java and Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia, farmers rely heavily on commodities, timber and fruits to make a living. They grow teak, mahogany, coffee, candle nut, ginger, mango, and bamboo expecting to generate income to pay the bills. Yet according to a study by Muktasam Abdurrahman from Mataram University in Indonesia, the unclear marketing strategy for timber and non-timber forest products (NTFPs) has resulted in low benefit margins for farmers.
“We found that farmers are lacking knowledge, particularly on production and marketing systems of timber and NTFPs,” said Abdurrahman at a session of the World Congress on Agroforestry. “For example they plant teak without knowing the criteria of high quality teak. They also rarely practice thinning and pruning of the trees, so they lose their chance to maximize production.”
“Farmers are weakly connected to the market, and since they also have very narrow market information, they apply very limited value-adding activities,” he added.
The paper, which shares preliminary findings and lessons learnt from an on-going project by the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), gathered data through surveys, scoping studies and group discussions in six villages in Gunung Kidul (Central Java), Sumbawa (West Nusa Tenggara) and Mutis (East Nusa Tenggara).
Abdurrahman stated that one of biggest challenge he found for timber species, particularly in Sumbawa, West Nusa Tenggara, comes from local bylaws preventing the community from selling timber products from uncertified lands. Problems arise when many farmers do not have land certificates, making it tricky for them to sell their timber.
“Some farmers even say that selling their timber products feels like stealing from their own land,” said Abdurrahman.
In 2012 the government of Indonesia passed a regulation that deregulated the local bylaws, but regrettably the district agency still enforces them, which disadvantages farmers.
The study’s co-author, Syafrudin Syafi’i, highlighted the honey value chain as a successful model that could to be applied in NTFPs such as the ginger and turmeric grown in the study areas.
Honey marketing in Sumbawa is done through collective action, managed by a network that collects and distributes the honey to buyers. “It is ideal to replicate this model to other NTFPs as a marketing strategy, but further assessment is required,” Syafi’i said.
Moreover, as part of solutions to establish a marketing strategy, Abdurrahman recommends interventions such as capacity building for farmers that concentrates on improving knowledge about marketing access, market characteristics, production techniques of timber and NTFPs, as well as resolving the local bylaw issue.
“On top of that, it is necessary to educate farmers to optimize species seasonal calendar,” says Abdurrahman. “This will help them design an agroforestry system that provides sustainable income throughout the year.”
By Enggar Paramita
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Find the abstract of the study here:
Related story:
Unity is strength in the marketing of smallholder farm produce
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Every day, our social media team works hard to capture the sessions and discussions at the World Congress on agroforestry, through our social media channels.
A dozen blogposts go online through the day (and night), and a small army of reporters capture the discussions through live tweets, pictures and video. Updates are posted on Facebook and summarized every night via our Storify mash-up:
This mash-up of our social media output was made by Esther Kimani (ICRAF)
Trees in forests store carbon. So too, do trees in agroforestry systems. But just how much can agroforestry contribute to mitigating climate change?
Finding an answer to this question is problematic due to a lack of knowledge about the amount of carbon individual tree species store both above and below the ground, especially those grown in smallholder farming systems.
Measuring the carbon content of trees generally relies on laborious techniques that involve cutting down and digging up trees of differing diameters, weighing the biomass of their various components (stems, branches, roots etc.) then translating this into the amount of CO2 sequestered.
With a focus on South Asia, several scientists at the World Congress on Agroforestry shared their research using such techniques to determine the potential of different tree-based systems to mitigate climate change.
“To persuade farmers to plant trees on farms, we need hard data about how it will benefit them,” emphasized Richmund Palma in his presentation on timber yields from bagras (Eucalyptus deglupta Blume). In northern Mindanao in the Philippines, bagras is grown alongside corn in hedgerows. Palma hopes to develop a model for measuring carbon density that can be used to determine which places will be suitable for growing bagras.
Tree plantations can be an important tool for mitigating climate change,” concluded Samritika Thakur after presenting her findings from a study into an abandoned plot of 21 year old Grevillea robusta in Kerala, India which has significant below ground carbon content.
Homegardens too are an important carbon sink, as Mangala Premakumara De Zoysa demonstrated while speaking about how there has been a 22 per cent increase in land under forest cover in Sri Lanka. Homegardens tend to contain indigenous species for many different purposes, so they are helping to conserve biodiversity as well as providing farmers with alternative livelihoods
However, if farmers are to benefit from the carbon they sequester through agroforestry then Payment for Environmental Services (PES) schemes need to be in place, and these rely on sound measurement techniques.
“Research can create basis for a PES Scheme,” said Bao Huy as he explained his work on the indigenous Litsea glutinosa tree which is grown in the Central Highlands of Vietnam together with cassava. While farmers tend to harvest these trees after 4 to 6 years, strong growth and greater carbon sequestration occurs after 10 years.
This session at the Congress provided an insight into just how much research is needed to calculate the carbon stored in smallholder agroforestry systems let alone develop mechanisms that can ultimately reward farmers for growing trees.
Blogpost by Kate Langford
Photo courtesy of USAID
A successful farmer attending WCA2014:
Economics plays a key role in farmers’ decisions and often trumps policy
Vietnam has experienced an overall “decreasing trend in agroforestry” since the government launched its natural forest protection programme, stated researcher Hoa Nguyen. This counterintuitive finding was delivered in a World Agroforestry Congress session that addressed policy on agroforestry and tree-based farming systems.
However, in some areas, the growing market for coffee and cashews is causing the opposite effect: agroforestry is expanding into natural forest areas, despite the government’s forest regeneration goal. The ICRAF scientist explained that economics plays a key role in farmers’ decisions and often trumps policy. Richer households, for instance, tend to increase their agroforestry investment rather than respond to government incentives to protect forests.
Chaired by Dr JS Samra of the Indian Council on Agricultural Research, the session probed what policies are needed to promote trees on farms. Some of the speakers focused on laws. Kamla Khanal, a PhD student at University of Nottingham, reported on the impact of India’s 2006 Forest Rights Act, which grants some management of forest land to tribal communities. India has about 84 million indigenous people, a subset of its estimated 275 million forest dwellers.
Working in areas of “left wing extremism” in Odisha state, Khanal showed photos of hills in the Eastern Ghats, denuded of trees 30 years ago. They will now be managed by tribal communities that still practice shifting cultivation but are now increasingly interested in planting coffee and cashews, which like in Vietnam, are seen as profitable. “They say a tree needs to give returns or it disappears from their land” she explained.
Chappidira Kushalappa described his region of Kodagu, which has the highest density of sacred forests in the world and produces 35% of India’s shade-grown coffee. However, the opening of India to the international coffee market is changing the crop’s management, with farmers shifting from growing shaded arabica coffee to full sun robusta. They are also replacing native shade trees with the Australian silver oak, Grevillea robusta. “When Grevillea constitutes more than 30% of the trees, biodiversity starts to go down,” said the coffee farmer.
A survey of 114 estates in Kodagu under the CAFNET project found 240 tree and 120 bird species and mammals, ranging from civets to 64 elephants co-existing among the coffee plants. Kushalappa suggested labeling the region’s production “elephant coffee” and called for two paradigm shifts—from emphasizing coffee productivity to focusing on its quality and from government regulation to certification by bodies such as Rainforest Alliance and UTZ.
He also appealed for more value to be placed on the ecosystem services provided by the forest. The Cauvery River, which originates in Kodagu, is threatened by the shrinking native tree cover. The river is the lifeblood for over one hundred million Indians, has supported irrigated agriculture for centuries and traverses four states to empty in the Bay of Bengal.
Wrapping up the session, Dr Samra listed over 20 must-be-watched policy and economic issues for agroforestry. Among them are the faltering carbon trade; the recently introduced minimum support price for non-timber forest products; and the Free Trade Agreement with the Asean bloc.
India imports $7-8 billion worth of timber a year mostly from Asian countries. Sixty-five per cent of India’s timber comes from farms, with the balance from plantations or imports. Felling in national natural forest is prohibited, and the Supreme Court has ordered the relocation of wood-based industries at least five kilometers away from forest areas, especially in the North East.
By Catharine Watson, Head of Programme Development, World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF)
Photo by Ram Singh
![Home-gardens are declining due to climate change and poor economy[1]](http://www.wca2014.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Home-gardens-are-declining-due-to-climate-change-and-poor-economy11.jpg "A home garden. Photo by Isaiah Esipisu")
A home garden. Photo by Isaiah Esipisu
Results of a recent survey whose findings were presented at the ongoing World Congress on Agroforestry reveals that a more residents living in this densely populated state of southern India now rely food bought from markets instead of feeding on produce from their home gardens, as they did a decade ago.
“The main purpose of our survey was to verify the aforementioned hypothesis by determining whether or not smallholding agriculture is losing importance in Kerala, and identifying the drivers of these changes,” the lead researcher, Thomas Arcadius Fox told the Congress in New Delhi, India.
The study sampled land owners at 115 randomly selected rural homesteads in eight of the 14 districts in Kerala to find out whether they depended on home gardens for food production or not.
“Overall, our study found that landholders are becoming less dependent on their home gardens for both subsistence and commercial agriculture. And over the past 10 years, there have been declines in the production of food crops, cash crops, spices, timber and livestock,” said Fox.
According to the researcher, the respondents identified increasing labour costs as the primary driver behind decisions to reduce reliance on agriculture. In addition, unreliable climatic conditions, low returns on investment, and increased prevalence of pests and disease discouraged home gardens. Some interviewees cited lack of space for farming, since most of the land had been used for construction of human settlements.
Home garden agroforests are a long-established and important type of smallholder land use in Kerala, and are estimated to constitute about 25 percent of the state’s total land cover, and a half of agricultural land, according to Fox.
The decline in the home-gardens is therefore regarded as a blow to the entire environment, biodiversity and livelihoods of the current and the future generations.
To the contrary, home gardens are on the rise in Sri Lanka, said Prof DKNG Pushpakumara of the University of Peradeniya, another presenter at the same session.
He pointed out that there was a need to incentivize home gardens through carbon financing mechanisms as a way of encouraging farmers to invest more in such agroforests.
“At the moment, home-gardens are the main source of fuelwood, timber and food in Sri Lanka,” he told the Congress.
In a study titled ‘Carbon stock and tree diversity of dry-zone home-gardens in southern Sri Lanka,’ Prof Pushpakumara said that the government can use the study results to decide whether home gardens should directly or indirectly be considered to be included as an activity within Sri Lanka’s newly commenced UN-REDD National Program.
“The good thing with home-gardens is that they are resilient to climate change,” he said.
The country, according to the study, has a tree cover of 40 percent, with most of the trees being found in home-gardens.
By Isaiah Esipisu
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The towering eucalyptus trees can drain and clean up waste water. Photo by Isaiah Esipisu
Eucalyptus, which is arguably among the most maligned tree species for its thirsty nature, has now been found to be a most eco-friendly plant for rehabilitating waterlogged areas, through method known as bio-drainage.
In a study presented at the ongoing World Congress on Agroforestry in New Delhi India, Jagdish Dagar, from the Emeritus Scientist Soil Salinity Research Institute in India, pointed out that “pumping of excess soil water by deep rooted plants using bio-energy is a viable alternative to subsurface drainage.”
Apart from being costly, the scientist said that subsurface drainage has been linked to environmental pollution.
Effectiveness of block plantations of Eucalyptus tereticornis was evident in Indira Gandhi Nahar Paryojana area, where the scientists managed to reduce ground water under the block plantation by 15.7 m over a period of six years, enabling farmers to plant wheat and other food crops.
From a different study, Dr Paramjit Singh Minhas, director of the National Institute of Abiotic Stress Management presented research findings that eucalyptus trees can be used to get rid of raw sewage and other forms of wastewater in an eco-friendly manner.
Eucalyptus trees have long been blamed for their ‘thirst’ for ground water, owing to their long taproots, and there is scientific evidence that the species could dry up water bodies.
“Under normal circumstances, eucalyptus trees can lose water four to seven times more than pastures depending on the method used and conditions on the site such as the type of soil, amount of rainfall among other factors,” Dr Minhas told the Congress session.
But the scientists at the Congress have given evidence to show that when exposed to wastewater, eucalyptus plantations can remove toxic metals, since the trees are known to sequester, tolerate and accumulate high levels of various heavy metals.
According to the researcher, developing ‘green belts’ around cities with forest trees under wastewater irrigation will help revive the ecological balance and improve the environment.
The researchers term these agroforestry systems ‘High Transpiration Rate Systems (HRTS)’ for the treatment of wastewater
Apart from putting waste water to use, the trees, especially the hybrid varieties, can produce timber and good fuelwood. Furthermore, eucalyptus are among the best sequesters of carbon from the atmosphere.
According to Dr Dagar, the carbon content in the dry biomass of about 240 Eucalyptus tereticornis species amounted to 15.5 tons per hectare on average.
However, Dr Minhas pointed out that bio-drainage methods were long term, and needed a lot of investment. “Though engineering approaches like surface and subsurface drainage have been standardized for rehabilitating the saline waterlogged soils, their adoption on large scale is hindered by high capital investment, associated operational and maintenance problems in addition to suitable alternatives for drainage water disposal,” said the scientist.
According to Rajbir Singh, one of the major concerns with this bio-drainage system has to do with agricultural land being turned over to non-food trees.
He further notes that the bio-drainage tree areas can become natural habitats for birds, some of which are harmful to crops that being gown on adjacent agricultural land.
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By Isaiah Esipisu
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Rita Sharma had some good pointers on developing an agroforestry policy
Trees take a long time to grow. And so do agroforestry policies. If you happen to be a nation considering growing your own policy, you could take a leaf out of India’s book.
The second most populous nation on Earth has just announced its first-ever national agroforestry policy.
Until now, India has had only bits and pieces of agroforestry-related guidelines in branch offices of the various ministries and departments that make up the 1.2-billion-people nation’s large bureaucracy. There was no central document that coherently focused the nation’s energies on putting trees on farms for their multiple benefits to people and the environment. And without such a document there were no specific people in government charged with the task of implementing the policy written on it.
And yet, farmers and scientists have known for a long time that it was a good idea to incorporate food, fuel, medicinal and timber trees with annual crops like wheat, maize or potatoes. Farmers in India plant poplar trees as windbreaks—and timber suppliers—along the edges of their small pieces of land, typically around 1 hectare; or grow wheat amongst mango trees; or combine coconut trees and fish farms. These farm systems also store carbon dioxide, which helps reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, and provide homes and food for animals and insects. And they make a farm more adaptable to extreme weather and fluctuations in markets. If there is a drought, for example, and the annual crop fails, the trees will still be likely to produce fruit and nuts, which can be eaten by the household or sold for cash.
Even so, according to Rita Sharma, India’s agroforestry policy’s announcement came “12 years after Dennis Garrity made the claim for agroforestry”. Sharma is the secretary of the National Advisory Council that helped develop the policy and Garrity was then the head of the International Centre for Research in Agroforestry, which later changed its brand name to the World Agroforestry Centre. Sharma was speaking at the opening day of the World Congress on Agroforestry in New Delhi, on 10 February 2014.
Sharma had some sage advice for other countries that might be thinking of making their own policy. The first question, she said, was “where should the focus be?” There were many different types of agroforestry systems, including ones run by larger enterprises, she said.
But 80% of India’s farmers are smallholders with 2 hectares or less and 60% of the cultivated area relies on infrequent and low rainfall. This land is on the margins of agricultural productivity, is stressed by lack of water and has low biodiversity. So, for Sharma and the others developing the policy, the choice was obvious: any policy had to prioritize the needs smallholders while also providing incentives for bigger system managers.
The second issue was existing legislation, in particular, the National Food Security Act 2013. This Act allows for highly subsidized food grain to be provided to two-thirds of the population: 820 million people are guaranteed that they can buy grain for 2–3 rupees (about US 6 cents) a kilogram. The Government has to supply 65 million tonne a year to meet its commitment. Clearly, any new policy couldn’t encourage taking land out of grain production. Hence, the policy focused on trees being complementary to crops, not substitutes.
The third dimension was one of semantics: is agroforestry really agriculture? Or is it forestry? Or both? While this might seem like something of a minor point, in bureaucracies, such terms define who is responsible for what.
‘In the past’, said Sharma, ‘the forestry people made mention of agroforestry but it wasn’t prioritized. And the same went for the agriculture people’.
The question for the Government was, ‘just which ministry would be responsible for trees on farms?’ Which one would implement the policy? The answer was a mix, like agroforestry itself, in the form of an equal partnership between agriculture and the environment.
“A common board will be set up—an agroforestry commission—so all the stakeholders can have their input,” said Sharma. “It will have funds of about USD 30–40 million, which will leverage funds from other programs.”
Which leads to the final piece of advice for interested nations: the agroforestry policy is a unique instrument in that it doesn’t have a stand-alone architecture of its own—except for the mission—but has many horizontal links with other programs, such as Sustainable Agriculture and the Green India mission. These already spend money on things that are common to agroforestry, such as tree nurseries and farmer training: around USD 1 billion a year. Now these can also support the spread of agroforestry.
“If we went and asked the finance minster for this amount we wouldn’t have got it,” said Sharma. “But this new mechanism will coordinate expenditure to provide technical support, build access to markets, prepare quality planting material and develop financial products and services. For example, banks currently give farmers loans to plant crops, but not trees. The policy will address this.”
This unique way of implementing the policy, and the partnerships it encourages, sets it apart and is its strength, according to Sharma, but is also its weakness: ‘It will need a lot of managerial skill because we are used to vertical silos not horizontal ways of working.
“But the policy is one small step. We have an obligation to ensure its success. We hope in the fullness of time it will culminate in a giant leap for the smallholder farmers of India,”
Blogpost by Robert Finlayson
Photo by Ram Singh/ICRAF
Shri Pranab Mukherjee, the Honorable President of India, opened the World Congress on Agroforestry on 10 February 2014. Photo by Ram Singh/ICRAF
There is a sanskrit verse that includes the words ‘ten sons are equal to one tree’. If India is to achieve its ambitious goal of 33 per cent tree cover through agroforestry, then a great many sons (and daughters too) need to be involved.
Today the World Congress on Agroforestry opened in Delhi, India with President the Honorable Shri Pranab Mukherjee saying to the 1,000 delegates gathered: “The cylinders can no longer remain idle; it is time to fire”.
Shri Mukherjee announced a landmark National Agroforestry Policy for India which is aimed at not just increasing tree cover, but providing multiple livelihood and environmental benefits.
The policy is expected to benefit the country’s farmers through incentives for agroforestry, insurance schemes and greater access to markets for agroforestry products.
According to President Mukherjee, the policy will enable farmers to reap the benefits of agroforestry, including sustainable crop production, improved livelihoods, stable ecosystems and resilient cropping and farming systems.
He particularly pointed out the role of agroforestry in climate change mitigation, saying “2014 should be a defining moment for tree-based systems to address climate change.” Certain agroforestry systems have been proven to sequester as much carbon in below-ground biomass as primary forests, and far greater than cropping and grassland systems.
Agroforestry is not new to India, having been practiced for generations. But the full potential of agroforestry has not been realized for many reasons. Among these are adverse policies, legal constraints, inadequate investments, weak markets and a dearth of institutional finance.
In India, as in many other countries, the mandate for agroforestry has fallen through the cracks in various ministries, departments, agencies and state governments.
The new policy brings together all the sons and daughters (i.e. ministries, institutions, programs, agencies and farmers) needed for an agroforestry revolution. It will see the establishment of a new Mission or Board dedicated to agroforestry. Regulatory mechanisms relating to agroforestry produce will be overhauled, sound databases and information systems developed and considerable new investment made in research, extension and capacity building. Greater industry involvement is also a major target.
The policy comes at a time when trees outside forests are becoming increasingly important for India. An estimated 65 per cent of the country’s timber and almost half of its fuel wood comes from trees grown on farms.
With India’s ever expanding population and increasing competition for land and water resources, agroforestry is viewed as having enormous potential to supply nutritious foods, fodder, firewood and timber.
Hopefully this new policy will provide the necessary incentives and remove obstacles so that agroforestry can be adopted with enthusiasm and confidence by farmers across the country.
By Kate Langford
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President inaugurates World Congress on Agro-forestry and presents Krishi Karman Awards
Following is the speech by the President of India, His Excellency Shri Pranab Mukherjee at the inauguration of the World Congress on Agroforestry:
1. It is my privilege to be here today to inaugurate the World Congress on Agro-forestry.
To begin with, let me extend a very heartly welcome to all the distinguished delegates from abroad. I wish them all a very comfortable stay in Delhi and hope they enjoy its salubrious February weather.
2. I am also happy to take this opportunity to present the Krishi Karman Awards of the Union Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India.
3. I congratulate the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, World Agro-forestry Centre and the Indian Society of Agro-forestry for jointly organizing this World Agro-forestry Congress. Being held in the Asia-Pacific region for the first time, I consider it a great honour to be a part of this historic occasion. In the context of increasing environmental degradation and rising pollution levels, the theme of this international conclave, “Trees for Life: Accelerating the Impacts of Agro-forestry” is truly relevant.
Ladies and Gentlemen:
4. Trees have been an integral part of the Indian culture and landscape from the times of yore. During the Vedic Age, which is a period in Indian history between 4500 and 1800 BC, a village would be considered complete only with its complement of woodlands in and around the houses. Surapala, an ancient scholar who lived in the tenth century India, had written Vriksha Ayurveda, or ‘The Science of Plant Life’. This text describes arbori-culture, which is the science and practice associated with the cultivation, management and study of individual trees, shrubs, vines and woody plants. Surapala’s work mentions 170 species of trees, shrubs and herbs. It also provides a comprehensive description for the treatment of seeds and planting materials; selection of land; water management; plant nutrition and control of plant disorders; laying out of gardens and orchards, and growing of rare trees. Much prior to Surapala’s account, Emperor Ashoka who ruled in the third century BC had fostered a system of arbori-horticulture.
5. Due to medicinal and aesthetic qualities, several trees and shrubs are considered sacred in India. Some like Pipal find reference in ancient religious scriptures. The Puranas extol the virtues of tree planting as and I quote: “dasha-kūpa-samā vāpī, dasha-vāpī-samo hradaḥ; dasha-hrada-samaḥ putro, dasha-putra-samo drumaḥ” (unquote), which means “a pond equals ten wells, a reservoir equals ten ponds; a son equals ten reservoirs, and a tree equals ten sons”.
Ladies and Gentlemen:
6. Tree-based production systems abound the tropical regions of the world. Yet, natural conservation has taken a backseat owing to the restless human drive towards urbanization, industrialization and food production. It has also suffered the impact of climate change, which has captured global attention now. 2014 should be a defining moment for evolving tree-based production systems to fight the debilitating impact of climate change in agriculture.
7. Instances of environmental debasement causing acute farmer distress have come to the fore in the recent past. The ecological foundations of soil, water, biodiversity and forests, essential for sustained advances in productivity, are under severe stress today. There are an estimated 500 million small-holder farms in the developing world, supporting the livelihood of about 2 billion people. These small farmers who practice family farming are economically vulnerable. Recognizing the need to reposition family farming at the centre of agricultural, environmental and social policies in the national agendas of different countries, the United Nations (UN) has declared 2014 as the International Year of Family Farming. Sustainable agricultural production systems based on the principle of environmental protection can indeed have a decisive influence in eliminating hunger and extirpating rural poverty.
Ladies and Gentlemen:
8. Agro-forestry offers a significant opening in resetting our priorities on farm sustainability. It is emerging as a major domain in environmentally sustainable food production systems. Agro-forestry system produces food, fuel and fibre; contributes to food and nutritional security; sustains livelihoods; helps in preventing deforestation; increases biodiversity; protects water resources, and reduces erosion. Carbon sequestration of agro-forestry farms is a low-hanging fruit for climate change mitigation, justifying greater investment in them. Agro-forestry is also an important alternative to meet the target of increasing the vegetation cover to 33 per cent from the present level of below 25 per cent.
9. In India, agricultural land makes up over 43 per cent of the total geographical area. Forests occupy about 23 per cent. There exists a vast potential for using agricultural land as a source of timber. It is estimated that already, about 64 per cent of India’s timber requirement is met from trees grown on the farm. Agro-forestry also meets almost half of the total demand of 201 million tonne of fuel wood in the country. Agro-forestry generates 450 labour days per hectare annually without negating farm productivity or income.
10. Though the Green Revolution helped India attain self-sufficiency in food grain production, the indiscriminate use of fertilizers and pesticides and improper land use management led to extensive environmental degradation, eventually affecting crop yield. Agro-forestry is alluring as an alternate land use option. Integration of agricultural and forest crops would not only prevent further land degradation but also ensure timber and firewood availability to the rural population.
11. The potential of agro-forestry to contribute to sustainable development has been recognized internationally as well. For instance, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change have acknowledged agro-forestry as a crucial constituent of climate-smart agriculture. The UN Convention to Combat Desertification recognizes agro-forestry as a key prospect for controlling desertification and pursuing rehabilitation. The Convention on Biological Diversity views agro-forestry as a central element in its ecosystem approach for conservation of agro-biodiversity. Agro-forestry is perhaps the only land use activity that has etched a relevant role for itself in the approaches espoused by these three important UN conventions.
Ladies and Gentlemen:
12. Undoubtedly, agro-forestry holds immense promise in enhancing the productivity of land in an environmentally and economically sustainable manner. Greater research is today required in agro-forestry, focused on creating eco-technologies that purposefully blend traditional ecological prudence with renewable energy technology.
13. India has been in the forefront of research on agro-forestry. The Indian Council of Agricultural Research had initiated a network project – All India Coordinated Research Project on Agro-forestry – in 1983. It had also established a National Research Centre for Agro-forestry in 1988. The Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education has recently initiated steps for unveiling another network programme on agro-forestry. State Agricultural Universities having Forestry or Agro-forestry departments partner in these network activities. These pioneering efforts have created a critical mass of manpower in the field of agro-forestry in the country.
14. Despite the large spinoffs agro-forestry can deliver, its development is hampered by lack of policy incentives, inadequate knowledge dissemination, legal constraints and poor coordination among its beneficiary sectors. Inadequate investment, lack of suitable extension strategies and weak market linkages compound the woes of this sector. Rather than being discouraged by long gestation periods normally associated with agro-forestry projects, we need innovative models that encourage investment in this sector.
15. Agro-forestry, as a promising sector, can no longer remain constricted to our tunnel vision. I am happy at the efforts being made to elevate agro-forestry to a wider framework in our policy discourse. I am told that a draft National Agro-forestry Policy has been prepared, which I hope will be finalized soon. A National Mission on Agro-forestry has also been planned that will ensure better coordination, seek convergence and derive synergy between various players operating in the sector.
16. I am confident that this Congress will provide a platform for concrete and meaningful discussions on the agro-forestry sector. The time for ideologic sermoning is over. The cylinders can no longer remain idle. It is time to fire. With these words, I conclude. May this Congress achieve all success.
Thank you.
Jai Hind.
Picture courtesy ICAR
Healthy agroforestry system
In the recent past Malawi has attracted global attention following huge gains in maize yields that were supported by the introduction of a fertilizer subsidy program in 2005. Now, a new study shows that integrating particular species of nitrogen-fixing trees in maize fields can raise the staple crop’s yield by up to 14 percent, comparable to the gains farmers obtain using subsidized fertilizers.
Viola Glenn from the Research Triangle Institute International in the USA and co-researchers will present these new findings at the World Congress on Agroforestry. They say these results mean that this agroforestry system could sustainably replace the ongoing Farm Input Subsidy Program in the country in case its financing ceases.
According to Glenn and her team, the agronomic and political stability of the fertilizer subsidy program are increasingly being called into question, as Malawi faces recurrent weather-related crop losses of late. They note that similar a program has been discontinued in Zambia due to the financial strain on government funds.
“Agroforestry offers an alternative method to improve crop yields and resilience to climate and weather at a relatively minimal cost,” Glenn and her team say in an abstract to the Congress titled ‘Revitalizing African agriculture from the ground up: A case study of soil fertility, fertilizer subsidy and agroforestry.’
The researchers collected data in a household survey of 390 farms in Malawi to assess the impact of the ‘fertilizer tree’ species Faidherbia albida on maize yield, and found an increase of 12 to 14 percent (169–201 kg) per hectare. Though lower than the yield increases recorded in experimental settings, this gain was greater than or equivalent to that recorded using fertilizer purchased under the subsidy program.
However, the scientists point out that farmers’ adoption of agroforestry in Malawi has been slower than their uptake of the fertilizer subsidies. One of the reasons for this, according to the researchers, is that agroforestry implementation can be expected to increase on-farm labor demand by 11 to 14 percent around the time of tree establishment. (However, maintaining well established agroforestry farms requires additional labour of just around one percent.)
During the survey, a ranking exercise identified ‘system flexibility’ and ‘compatibility with existing systems’ as the most important decision criteria in agroforestry adoption. The researchers therefore recommend that efforts to expand the use of this agroforestry system focus on these two areas, rather than focusing mainly on economic profitability.
Separate long-term studies by World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) and partners has shown the ability of fertilizer trees to not only raise maize yields, but also stabilize them over time. Overall, is a growing body of evidence that incorporating trees into agricultural landscapes is part of the solution to meeting the challenge of climate change.
By Isaiah Esipisu
Related links:
- Agroforestry for food nutrition security in Africa
- Trees and food security in Africa; what’s the link?
- Farming Trees, Banishing Hunger: How an agroforestry programme is helping smallholders in Malawi to grow more food and improve their livelihoods [PDF Download]
Agroforestry can enhance pasture production
In times of drought, pastoralists are among the groups hardest hit, when lack of fodder threatens their main source of livelihoods — their livestock. But researchers say agroforestry can be used to generate enough pasture to see livestock during dry spells.
In an abstract to the upcoming World Congress on Agroforestry titled ‘Improving productivity of common grazing resources in hot arid region of India through participatory pasture development,’ Arun Misra of the Central Arid Zone Research Institute (CAZRI) in India and co-researchers say planting particular drought-tolerant tree species can provide pasture to sustain livestock through a “drought window.”
In a trial on a total of 56 hectares of common lands in four different areas in India, the researchers intercropped two common grass species (Cenchrus setigerus and Lasiurus sindicus) with four drought-tolerant tree species (Acacia senegal, Acacia tortilis, Azadirachta indica and Prosopis cineraria).
After three years of establishment, productivity of the common lands rose to between 1.5 and 2.7 tons of dry fodder per hectare. This was a huge improvement on natural pasture, which produced just 0.5 tons per hectare.
The harvested dry biomass was chopped and stored as ‘fodder bank,’ and made available to the most vulnerable sections of the society during the subsequent drought period.
In another paper at the Congress, researchers from Tamil Nadu Agricultural University will discuss silvipasture models for meeting fodder requirements. The scientists say tree-grass intercrops were able to improve fodder yield. Their study found that cenchrus, guinea grass and desmanthus were the most suitable fodder crops for a Pongamia pinnata-based silvipasture system.
They conclude that adoption of suitable silvipasture models in the drylands of TamilNadu will not only help meet fodder requirements, but could enhance the overall productivity of the region’s drylands.
By Isaiah Esipisu
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Edited by D. Ouya
I am a farmer. I have never written a blog piece as there always seems to be something else to do around the farm. However, what got my attention is that it gives me an opportunity to tell my story; a story that has a lot to do with “trees,” both disappearing and reappearing.
Our family moved to the farm in 1983 and is situated on the prairies in Alberta, Canada. We farmed the industrial model raising beef and growing grain on our 800 acres. It’s a challenge for a small farm to compete in the global market place. Instead of buying more land, it seemed like a good idea to clear trees, bring more land into cultivation and grow more grain. This was not a wise decision. While attempting to grow the market economy we had been destroying the nature economy.
After twelve years, we decided to consider other options. An eight day course in Holistic Management was offered in our area. It taught us to strive to farm “in harmony with nature.” This course changed how we farmed and how we have come to view the land. We chose to change to a grass based, certified organic niche model.
Our initial task was to relearn the importance of “nature.” What clearly stood out were the areas where the trees had been cleared in and around the perimeter of fields, around wetlands and in riparian areas. There is a saying that “When the student is ready, the teacher appears.” The student was ready and seemingly, by coincidence, our paths began crossing with those people who were going to help us to have a greater understanding of nature.
Research and development in agroforestry has provided us with various options to put trees back on the landscape and rebuild the nature economy. Water quality and quantity, diversity, biodiversity, habitat and climate change were some of the factors that we considered to be of prime importance.
Shelterbelts
We started the re-planting with agroforestry specialists who designed shelterbelts that form a two row perimeter around and down the centre of each of our five quarter sections. One row is maple or ash trees and the other consists of a variety of berry bushes. These rows of trees slow the wind, trap snow, and provide habitat for many species of birds, insects and mammals as well as corridors for wildlife to move around our farm without being noticed.
Riparian
Riparian areas along creeks and wetlands had been overgrazed by our cattle. Riparian specialists made us aware of the value that these areas have, not only to farmers but to society. When managed properly, these areas capture and store water. They are now fenced and grazed during dormancy which leaves mature forages for habitat for wildlife and a filter to improve and maintain water quality. With cattle being excluded during the growing season, the native trees, shrubs and grasses have re-established and their root systems are stabilizing the creek banks and providing food for migrating birds.
Wildlife Habitat Plantings
Wildlife habitat plantings are another agroforestry design that is providing an increase of biodiversity. These plantings are an acre in size and consist of ten rows of trees spaced eight feet apart and 150 feet long. There are sixteen different species of conifers, deciduous, berry bushes and shrubs in these plots that total over 5,000 trees and shrubs. We have planted six of these habitat plantings and have noticed a variety of insects and an increase in new bird species.
Eco-buffer
This design consists of three to seven rows of native trees and shrubs with diverse characteristics such as thorny, suckering, tall, short, fruiting, fast or slow growing. The rows are four feet apart making for a very dense planting which, in trials, has yielded a tenfold increase in species at the site after only five years. In order to entice native pollinators, twenty different species of native flowering plants have been added. Pollinators are responsible for every third bite of food that we take. From spring until late fall, there is always something flowering in this planting. We have planted three of these plantings on the farm.
I never kept track of the number of trees that I cleared during our early years on the farm. We have planted over 60,000 trees since 2003. Much of the forest that we cleared is now back, re-planted and fenced off from our cattle. The diversity of tree species has been responsible for much of the increase in biodiversity. The saying, “If you build it, they will come” has proven to be true.
As a small farm, according to Canadian standards, we feel that it is important to market the food that we grow right from the farm. The concern for the “environment” is on the radar of most people. Since we can’t compete with the cheap price of food from global markets, we feel that our unfair advantage is to offer tours to various groups and families to show them how we care for the land. We hope that they understand that if we were to lower the price of the food we sell, the land will pay that price with another cycle of trees being cleared so that we can grow more food. With climate change advancing, we may not have a second chance to rebuild the nature economy.
When asked what motivates a change to respect nature, I think of biologist E.O. Wilson who claims that we all have “biophilia” which means that we are all hard wired to care for nature, but we require a catalyst. For us, the HM course was a start. After that, the biologists, ecologists, riparian and agroforestry specialists inspired us with their passion, knowledge and wisdom. If the trees could speak, they would say that “it is good to hear the sound of their feet on the land.”
Blog post by Don Ruzicka, Sunrise Farm (Killam, Alberta, Canada) – ruzickadon(at)hotmail.com
Picture by Peter Casier
Analog forestry emphasizes imitating forest structure and increasing biodiversity,
all while producing sustainable yields
(Picture caption: .)
As we celebrate the International Year of Family Farming in 2014, agroforestry must be celebrated for its positive impacts for small-scale farmers. In addition to producing a wider variety of crops, agroforestry also provides important benefits in terms of ecosystem services and local biodiversity. Against a backdrop of land grabs and monoculture plantations that are geared towards the production of a single commodity, agroforestry has a crucial role in maintaining rural livelihoods as well as biological and cultural diversity. Certainly, there is much to celebrate, but also a need to push ourselves further.
So how can we achieve further gains in biodiversity and ecosystem restoration while also supporting rural livelihoods? One technique, analog forestry, has stood out as a promising method to reach these goals. The basic principle of analog forestry is simple: use the natural forest as a guide to create an agroforestry system that is similar, or analogous, in structure and function.
Especially in tropical areas, forests contain a diversity of canopies and growth types. Tall and emergent trees dominate the canopy, smaller, shade-tolerant trees and shrubs are present in the lower strata, and a variety of herbs and shrubs grown on the forest floor, while vines and other climbers are present throughout. Analog foresters analyze the structure of the forests of their areas and look for species that provide benefits to them and fill a certain structural niche. For example, vanilla or pepper might be used in an area with numerous vines in the natural forest, and shade-tolerant crops such as cacao or coffee might fill the structural gap in areas with a strong understory.
Forests, of course, do not grow overnight. That is why analog forests harness the concept of ecological succession, where ecosystems slowly grow in complexity, with different species at different times, depending on existing structure, soil profiles, and nutrient availability. This also helps with the economic sustainability of analog forestry systems. Farmers use annual crops and species that produce over shorter timeframes in tandem with long-term investments in timber or fruit trees. This leads to farms that have both short-term and long-term production.
These ideas are not without precedent. Traditional agriculture all over the world uses forest gardens that harness the biodiversity and productivity of forest ecosystems. Indeed, Dr. Ranil Senanayake, who first coined the term ‘analog forestry’, was first inspired by the forest gardens of Sri Lanka. In its current form, analog forestry merges new tools for the sharing of information, seeds, and local knowledge with traditional knowledge of forest gardening.
To be sure, analog forestry is a challenging proposition to many, as is agroforestry. Luckily, the past 20 years have seen the creation of a community of practice linking practitioners of analog forestry all over the world, from Sri Lanka to Cameroon to Honduras. By sharing stories of experiments, successes and failures, people have shared information on what has worked for them and what interesting ideas they have.
Currently, analog forestry has enjoyed some key successes and is being implemented in diverse areas. In Cameroon, analog forestry has been used to revitalize the production and marketing of traditional crops. In Sri Lanka, tea plantations have used analog forestry to produce forest tea and increase biodiversity. By partnering with small farmers throughout the country, organizations in the Dominican Republic are using analog forestry to create a biological corridor in the Colinas Bajas Model Forest. At the international level, the International Analog Forestry Network is coordinating capacity building, knowledge transfer, and the development of demonstration sites, and the Rich Forests coalition has been working to create links between producers and markets, while promoting restoration activities.
You can learn more about analog forestry and these initiatives here.
Blogpost and illustration by Adam Kabir Dickinson/International Analog Forestry Network (San José, Costa Rica) – kabir(at)analogforestry.org
The EverGreen Agriculture Partnership is organizing a side event at the Congress on Thursday, 13 February at 1530 hours in the Turquoise Room of the Kempinski.
This side event will provide a forum for catalyzing momentum and linkage between research and scaling activities to spread EverGreen Agriculture technologies in several high potential regions of the world. Participants will be provided the opportunity to brainstorm and plan potential activities to take EverGreen Agriculture forward in their regions, the plans developed will form the basis of the EverGreen Agriculture Partnership’s strategy to provide assistance and support to the regions.
EverGreen Agriculture is emerging as a science-based solution to regenerate the land, combat desertification and increase family food production and cash income. It is a form of more intensive farming that integrates trees into crop and livestock production systems at the field, farm and landscape scale. Millions of men and women in Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Malawi, Zambia and other countries are already practicing EverGreen Agriculture, and the momentum for its spread is accelerating.
PROGRAMME
Welcome & Overview of the event , Dr. Dennis Garrity
Opening remarks, Dr. MS. Swaminathan
Review of advances and plans for EGA in the Sahel, Dr. Antoine Kalinganire
Review of advances and plans for EGA in East Africa, Dr. Jeremias Mowo
Review of advances and plans for EGA in Southern Africa, Dr. Sileshi Getahun and Issac Nyoka
Review of advances and plans for EGA in South Asia, V.P. Singh & Dr. Sanjay Tomar
Breakout Groups by region to examine critical needs and map out an action plan
Breakout Groups report back to plenary
Wrap up & Closure, Dr. Dennis Garrity
The High Atlas Foundation (HAF) is a Moroccan-US non-governmental organisation founded thirteen years ago by former Peace Corps Volunteers to facilitate the establishment of vital development projects in predominantly rural, disadvantaged communities throughout Morocco. Its sustainable agricultural mission is twofold: to improve the livelihood of these communities while maintaining an eco-friendly approach to economic growth.
On January 16th this year we celebrated our successful planting of one million fruit bearing trees for the benefit of local communities at simultaneous ceremonies held across eight Moroccan provinces. To date the campaign is estimated to have helped some 50,000 Moroccans take the step out of poverty. HAF is now poised to expand this project, working at an accelerated rate, with the aim of planting one billion trees in the future and ending dependence on subsistence agriculture throughout the Kingdom.
Bringing the idea to fruition has, and will continue to be, an exercise in enhancing and affirming life, in terms of its impact on the environment and on society. Worthy of note in this context are two unique features; the opportunities afforded to the foundation and the spirit of cooperation existing between diverse communities within and beyond Morocco.
People, land and plants
Family farmers in Morocco are moving away from their traditional reliance on subsistence farming to planting cash crops – most commonly fruit trees – to generate greater income. Land for the HAF is made available by a variety of interested parties including government agencies, local cooperatives and municipalities, women’s associations and the Jewish community of Marrakesh. Native tree species that can be grown without pesticides – including carob, olive, pomegranate, lemon, almond and walnut – are planted in nurseries managed entirely on organic lines. At the end of each two-year project mature trees are distributed at the symbolic cost of 1 Moroccan Dirham (a fraction of their true market value) to the surrounding population.
More recently projects have been implemented to grow tens of thousands of native medicinal herbs – oregano, fennel, rosemary, geranium and capers for example – primarily in greenhouses but from this season, in combination with fruit tree agriculture as part of an initiative to explore agroforestry techniques.
Crucially, the land management strategies put into place prevent soil erosion and desertification. For example, once mature, aromatic plants will be transferred to locations on severely eroded mountain sides where homes and whole villages have had to be abandoned.
HAF plays a facilitative role in the process, enabling local communities and neighborhoods who chose to do so, to identify, plan and implement the socio-economic and environmental projects they most need in a democratic manner. This ‘bottom-up’ participatory approach delivers not only projects but training. Communities therefore receive the tools to create their own autonomous projects in the future – the essential goal of sustainable human development.
HAF’s organic agricultural project spans the entire development process from nursery to market. Among other things this includes the securing of product organic certification, from which farmers receive direct income benefits; utilising biomass waste to create further products such as clean energy briquettes and reinvesting in agricultural and human development projects.
An important initiative inspired by the tree campaign is the establishment of an enterprise (High Atlas Agriculture and Artisanal – HA3) to unite rural farmers, allowing them to market their produce in both the domestic and international market, an achievement for which HAF was recognized as 2013 SEED Award winners.
These projects take place in the knowledge that HAF plays a specialized – and therefore especially responsible – role. Since 2011 it has held Special Consultative Status at the United Nations Economic and Social Council. It is the only similar organization involved in organic agriculture (in a country where 35% of the total walnut crop is by default organic), with university training facilities and with comprehensive links to government at all levels.
Social context
HAF takes care at every level to prioritize the most marginalized. This pervading ethos of inclusivity was very much in evidence on 16th January. There are thousands of people across Morocco who can speak of their first time planting a tree under the HAF auspices. On the day itself representatives of different strata of Moroccan society participated, from national and provincial dignitaries to agricultural workers, from teachers to schoolchildren – the next generation to take care of our earth and find sustainable methods of conducting our lives.
The presence of diplomatic invitees underscored the continued cooperation between the US government and the movement towards a Green Morocco.
One ceremony was held at Akraich, just south of Marrakesh, significant in being the first to be loaned to the High Atlas Foundation by the Jewish community of Marrakesh-Essaouira for the benefit of local Muslim farmers. The choice reflects very well our role, demonstrated in innumerable activities, to connect the as-yet-unconnected to opportunities for growth and development: to economic and communal participation, to clean drinking water, to education – and to each other.
Looking further afield, we also see our community-driven work in the context of the Arab Spring, aiming to play our part in building a Morocco that shines a way towards a peaceful and prosperous future.
Projects then are seen as gateways to further initiatives, deeper meaning, broader impact and the delivery of vital messages to the global public. We must – and will – continue to deliver with continued passion and commitment, dedication and precision, with faith in the Moroccan people and in humanity.
On January 16th nearly 10,000 trees were planted across Morocco, setting the stage for the rest of the planting season. At a time when the Kingdom is threatened with drought, much-needed rain began to fall at many locations – a most promising sign for the health of the trees and local agriculture and, one likes to think, for the future in general.
Photo: High Atlas Foundation One Million Tree campaign celebration – 16th January 2014 – planting trees with the Project Soar Association – El Ouidane commune, Al Haouz province, Morocco
Blogpost and photo submitted by Hedvah Peres on behalf of the High Atlas Foundation (Marrakesh, Morocco) – hedvah(at)highatlasfoundation.org
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This post is entry nr #47 in our #WCA2014 blog competition. The five blogposts with the most and highest votes will receive a signed copy of the book "Trees for Life". The most popular blogpost will get an iPad.
This blogpost received 110 votes, with an average score of 5 (out of a max of 5).
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Insect-pests of agricultural crops is always been troubling our farmer friend. Our important paddy crop is highly infested by insect-pests. Chemical Insecticides are syringe to control them, but shows a short term benefits and due to regular insecticide application pest come up with their negative role, develops resistance and facilitate outbreaks of secondary pests. Also insecticides they pollute our lovely environments. So the alternatives to overcome the hazardous effect of chemical pesticides are use of organic substances and bio-control agents. I suggest my lovely friends ‘Birds’ as bio-control agents.
The birds’ dual role of benefactors and destroyers in agriculture is very well known. Most of the birds play a useful role in agriculture by decreasing the number of insect and other pests. Insectivorous and carnivorous species are considered to be useful to agriculture since they keep a very potent check on populations of insect and rodent pests of crops, one of the amazing example is owls, one owl patrol over 40 hectare of agricultural land and help in controlling rodents, but some of the granivorous and frugivores birds substantially reduce the agricultural production e.g. Rose-ringed Parakeet.
The intensively cultivated farms along with a variety of native and exotic agroforestry trees provide additional food to birds in the form of fish, bees, animal feeds, tree-fruits, seeds, nectar etc. So the birds of all feeding guilds like granivores, frugivores, insectivores, carnivores, nectarivores and omnivores are found in agricultural area. In our study what found was very interesting.
Paddy fields with different tree density on its bunds against paddy field without trees were considered for comparison. The difference taking place only due to presence of trees and not by their density was amazing. Over all birds recorded were 71 in number, 31 species of birds were recorded in plot without trees and 65 species of birds were recorded in plot with trees. Interestingly, 40 additional species of birds were only found in plot with trees. From this it was clear that tree density or habitat heterogeneity on paddy fields enhances the bird species richness. In case of feeding guilds of 71 birds recorded overall, 21 each were omnivorous and insectivorous, 15 Carnivorous, 12 granivorous and 2 Nectarivores. It was interesting to see that the feeding guilds also strengthened in the high tree density plots. When it was looked in terms of beneficial (i.e. Omnivorous, insectivorous, carnivorous, nectarivores) birds, plot without tree yielded 6 species while plots with trees had 16 additional species. Numbers of beneficial birds were more than the potentially harmful granivorous birds in plot with trees.
Moreover, Agroforestry improves the heterogeneity on the farmland and provides more niche spaces for birds. Agroforestry is a land-use pattern that helps to conserve biodiversity; attracts organisms that are beneficial to farming like pollinators, insectivorous birds; improves farm by reducing soil erosion and is economically beneficial to farmers. Human activity specifically habitat destruction have dramatically increased rates of biodiversity loss. In order to overcome this problem it is very important to identify the reasons of destruction and to come out with solutions to maintain farmland biodiversity.
I strongly promote agroforestry system and organic farms to support birds and obtain their services. Lastly I invite Egrets, Mynas, Crows, Bee-eaters, Drongo, Shrike, Kingfisher, Swallows, Swifts, Rollers, Coucals, Lapwings, Koel, Robins, Babblers, Thrush, Raptors, and Waders for their day meal and Owls for dinner at my field with all boarding facilities- roosting, nesting and perching.
Blogpost and photo by Jyothi Krishnan Mandan, Ph.D. (Wildlife Sciences), College of Forestry, Vellanikkara, Kerala Agricultural University (Thrissur, Kerala, India) – jyokrish25(at)gmail.com
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This post is entry nr #46 in our #WCA2014 blog competition. The five blogposts with the most and highest votes will receive a signed copy of the book "Trees for Life". The most popular blogpost will get an iPad.
This blogpost received 73 votes, with an average score of 4.5 (out of a max of 5).
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In India, vast areas of forested land have turned bare as a result of indiscriminate felling and exploitation. The problem has arisen when demand far exceeded the capacity of forest to supply wood without damage to the natural balance. A growing rural population with limited income opportunities and the related widespread rural poverty due to shrinking resource base have led to encroachment of forestlands.
Diversion of forestland to non-forest uses (of the order of 150,000 ha. annually) has also led to large-scale destruction of forests. It is estimated that out of the 130 million ha of barren land in the country, 70 – 80 million ha. is under private ownership.
Such lands when developed carefully with various site-specific tree species for fodder, firewood, pulpwood and timber for various industries will return the green cover and can help change the picture completely in a few years. The increasing demands of humans for food, fruit, vegetables and fuel necessitates the cultivation under marginal, degraded as well as under the shrubs and trees plantation.
The condition of the Indian farmers in the rural society is neglected due to less holding (02 ha) and resource poor. The income generated from such holding either through plantation or arable cropping alone is not sufficient to sustain the farm families while the mono-cropping system is not sure under the risk prune environment.
Agroforestry has not only benefit farmers but it also supplies raw material to wood industry and generate employment of various kinds thus benefiting millions in related economic activities like transportation, wholesale and retailing etc. Agroforestry also plays an important role in environmental improvement and pollution control etc. It can be initiated at farmers’ holdings in villages and nearer to urban conglomerations. It is a win-win situation for all.
Hence, to utilize time and space as well as natural resources in addition to inputs applied artificially through agronomic manipulation and management practice is the need of the time. Change in cropping pattern from mono cropping to intercropping up to some extent improves the stability of yield and income by way of spreading the risk of crop failure. The need for the better understanding of agricultural crops and tree has prompted the author to study the growth and production of associated crops under eucalyptus plantation.
Experimental site
Village – Mushkara , Block- Sihora , Distt- Jabalpur (M.P.)- India
Agro-climatic zone- Kymore Plateau and Satpura Hills
Location : 22°49’ to 2408’ North Latitude and 78021’ to 80058’ East Longitude
Year of experiment: July 2009 to March 2012
Other Experimental Details
Soil Type – Medium black & Clay Loam
Soil Depth – 8 to 10 feet
Soil PH - 7.2
Planting material used – Clone No. 413
Spacing – 8 m x 1.5 m (paired rows)
(Wider spacing in East to West direction)
No. of Plants/ha. – 2000
Planting month & Year – July , 2009
Irrigation potential – Rainfed condition
N,P & K Status – 205 , 15.6 , 376 kg/ha
Recommended Package of practices were followed for trees and crops both.
Major Findings
- Net return of Rs. 1,47,380/- ha was recorded when soybean was grown with eucalyptus plantation as compared to farmers practices i.e sole cropping of soybean or no use of space between the plantation. The crop was harvested at 105-110 days.
- The net return of Rs. 1,50,930/- ha was recorded when wheat was grown with eucalyptus plantation as compared to farmers practices i.e sole cropping of wheat or no use of space between the plantation. The crop was harvested at 125-130 days.
- Although there is a reduction of 9% in soybean yield and 14% in wheat yield under eucalyptus plantation.
- The assessed technology is found suitable for rainfed area and managed the problem of unutilized space between the plantations and also the low income per unit area from sole crop only.
- The income generated by the plantation has minimized the losses and gave extra income.
- Thus, the productivity and profitability per unit area was increased in eucalyptus based agrisilviculture system in the region.
- Farmers realized that the intercropping of soybean and wheat under plantation gave extra income at sustainable basis.
Photo: View of soybean crop with eucalyptus
Blogpost and photo by Naveen Patle, S.B.Agrawal, D.P.Sharma, Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Jawaharlal Nehru Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya (Jabalpur, India) – Submitted by naveen_patle2002(at)rediffmail.com
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This post is entry nr #45 in our #WCA2014 blog competition. The five blogposts with the most and highest votes will receive a signed copy of the book "Trees for Life". The most popular blogpost will get an iPad.
This blogpost received 28 votes, with an average score of 4.5 (out of a max of 5).
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The right trees can enrich landscapes and prevent soil erosion
Five years ago, a two-hectare piece of sloping land in Addis Ababa’s Gurara slum lay bare, allowing rainwater runoff to carry its topsoil into a nearby stream. But after trees were introduced on terraces and the land converted into a demonstration ‘bio-farm,’ it is now productive, with different high-value crops.
“I believe every problem has a solution; soil erosion, land degradation, and deforestation are major problems in the developing world, and one of the simplest way of solving them is by controlling the movement of wind and runoff by planting more trees,” said Getachew Tikubet, the founder BioEconomy Africa, the group that led the restoration of Gurara.
Ecological restoration using agroforestry will be a subject of discussion at the upcoming World Congress on Agroforestry.
Matilda Palm and Eskil Mattsson of the Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden will present a study that identifies ecological restoration opportunities. They do this by analyzing how expanding agroforestry management in degraded land could restore productivity and ecosystem services in particular areas.
“In many geographical areas, the deterioration is currently at a near-catastrophic scale and the impact is huge, both in terms of food production and deforestation,” say the scientists. Shifts in global land use are mainly responsible for the loss of biodiversity, land degradation and decline in ecosystem services seen in many places, they add.
In an abstract to the Congress titled ‘Cultivating resilient landscapes – opportunities for restoring degraded and vulnerable lands with agroforestry systems,’ Palm and Mattsson say if managed well, ecological restoration using agroforestry can, in addition, help with climate change mitigation.
Their recommendations are based on comparative field research in Sri Lanka and Vietnam, which sought to propose practical solutions for the restoration of degraded land, with a focus on multiple ecosystem services.
In another paper at the Congress, Elie A. Padonou and co-authors will discuss a model where “climate-resilient” species are grown in suitable ecological zones, as a means of ecological restoration.
By Isaiah Esipisu
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What’s a landscape anyway? Tony Simons, director general of World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) describes the historical and environmental angles of the landscape approach to natural resources management, in this video.
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Edited by D. Ouya
Woman farmer in Nepal. Photo by Neil Palmer (CIAT)
A session at the forthcoming World Congress on Agroforestry will hear the results of ethnographic research from India that showed how agroforestry can bring high value to households in dry areas with degraded land.
In a paper that explores the gender dimension of agroforestry in semi-arid tribal districts of western India, Purabi Bose of the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) will shed light on the important roles played by women and men.
“Men tend to participate more in the meetings, but women are in charge regarding improving the soil quality, and adaptive to agroforestry-related innovations to tackle droughts in the region,” says Bose in a her abstract.
Bose points out that most of the land under agroforestry in her study area was owned (or claimed) by men.
She also found that in the villages, men made most of the decisions on the marketing, while the decisions related to planting and fodder production were made by women. When it came to establishing networks within the villages, however, the women were “more actively involved in communication and exchanging ideas than the men.”
These findings mirror several studies in Africa and Asia, which indicate that smallholder women farmers hold the key to food security in the developing world. According to the UN Food and Agriculture organization (FAO), women produce between 60 and 80 per cent of the food in most developing countries, and are responsible for half of the world’s food production.
The International Centre for Research on Women says there is need to focus on women farmers, since they are integral to alleviating hunger and malnutrition; they make important decisions to ensure that food for their families is reliably available, accessible and nutritionally sound.
Bose’s abstract, titled ‘Gender matters in agroforestry in dry and degraded lands? An analysis from tribal India,‘ concludes that it is important for both men and women to play an active role in implementing agroforestry activities, in order to tackle challenges such as drought and soil infertility.
By Isaiah Esipisu
Can trees strengthen and improve people lives? Can trees play a bigger role?
Yes, trees are lifeline for the ecosystem we live in. This statement can be supported, because 1.2 billion people in the world are following Agroforestry practices.
In the recent years, many initiatives have been taken to promote indigenous tree species providing marketable food, fodder and agro forestry tree products. But I feel that revamping of traditional systems and adding little bit sugar will stir up technologies whereby we can go in harmony with nature.
Here I would like to share the story of one important traditional pasture system i.e. in existence in Kangeyam tract of Tamil Nadu. Centuries back farmers in kangeyam tract engaged in farming of dry land crops and some of the land portions were left unfarmed.
After the receipt of rain, the nature flourished with vegetation. Farmers were left with only option of grazing their animals in the vegetated (unfarmed) area. Later on, it became a usual habit and they found it as effective way of grazing animals. They ploughed the land once in three years and planted legumes in order to enrich nutrient status of soil.
Acacia leucophloea and Albizzia amara is the common tree that occupies the pasture land (35-40 trees/ha) with sufficient space for grasses like Cenchrus. Live fences were maintained around pasture land. They also followed rotational system of grazing .When there is no grasses, livestocks feed on tree pods. Drinking water provisions were provided to livestock by establishing cement trough in pasture area.
As days passed, farmers gained knowledge of sound management practices. Soon they realized trees, grasses, shrubs and livestock as their part of routine life. As a result they were enjoying directly and indirectly many benefits like quality fodder, income, maintaining the fertility of land and other environmental services.
I happened to hear from one farmer (women) whose is managing this system effectively: She was happy to attend trainings conducted by government which enriches their knowledge, income and their livelihood opportunities. She was ready to take home the content of training outcome and share it with other farmer friends .
These type of training had enlighten them about importance of trees and the benefits enjoying from it. Therefore, it provides income security, conserves ground water table, improves the ecology of the region, preserves local culture, beliefs and customs, encourages participation of people and as a whole improves lifestyle of farmers, thereby giving life to trees and trees for life without which the term sustainability becomes question mark.
“The Earth, The Air, The Land And The Water Are Not An Inheritance From Our Fore Fathers But On Loan From Our Children. So We Have To Handover To Them At Least As It Was Handed Over To Us”.
-Mahatma Gandhi
Photo: Natural grazing area of Kangeyam Tract, Tamil Nadu
Blogpost by Keerthika, Scientist (P) – NAARM (Hyderabad, India) – lathikaconifers(at)gmail.com
and Sangram Chavan, Scientist, National Research Centre for Agroforestry (Jhansi, India) – Sangramc8(at)gmail.com
Photo courtesy The Hindu
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This post is entry nr #44 in our #WCA2014 blog competition. The five blogposts with the most and highest votes will receive a signed copy of the book "Trees for Life". The most popular blogpost will get an iPad.
This blogpost received 75 votes, with an average score of 5 (out of a max of 5).
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A long-term experiment was conducted to assess the performance of stocker ram lambs utilizing stockpiled foliage and forage from established “Leucaena leucocephala- based” silvopastoral system vis-à-vis natural pasture. The treatments were: (1) stockpiled foliage and forage in a “L. leucocephala –based” silvopature (SILVOPASTURE) and (2) stockpiled forage in a natural grasslands (NATURAL) consisting primarily Sehima nervosum, Heteropogan contortus, Dichanthium annulatum, and Chrysopogan fulvus. Deccani ram lambs grazed treatment pastures from mid September to late March in all three years. Each treatment was replicated three times in a completely randomized design. SILVOPASTURE treatment produced more (P<0.01) forage than the NATURAL treatment, with the SILVOPASTURE producing 4.11 t ha-1 and the NATURAL producing 1.36 t ha-1. When the foliage of L. leucocephala was excluded, the SILVOPASTURE treatment still produced higher (P<0.01) crude protein (CP) than NATURAL. Average daily gain (P<0.01) was 87.2 g for the ram lambs in the SILVOPASTURE and 59.1 g for the ram lambs in the NATURAL treatment. Gain per ha was greater (P<0.01) in the SILVOPASTURE than in the NATURAL treatment (236 vs. 160 kg) over the grazing season. Organic C, available N, P and K were increased over the 4 years of experimentation under the silvopastoral system due to accumulation of biomass leaf litter. The present study shows that the stockpiled foliage and forage from the silvopastoral system would meet the nutrient requirements of ram lambs even during drier months of the year and improves fertility and productivity of the soil in the long run.
Hortipature system for small ruminants
Three on farm experiments – experiment 1 (E1, 130 days), experiment 2 (E2, 120 days) and experiment 3 (E3, 120 days) were carried to evaluate the performance of Nellore Zodpi ram lambs grazed in established hortipastoral systems (mango and sweet orange orchards of above 5 years old with natural and established pasture of C. ciliaris, S. hamata and with boundary plantation of L. leucocephala) in rainfed areas. The forage and crude protein (CP) yields (t ha-1) were significantly (P < 0.01) higher from established pasture than natural pasture in orchards. The established pasture contained medium (C. ciliaris) to high (S. hamata) CP and medium in vitro dry matter degradability (IVDMD), where as the natural pasture contained low CP and medium IVDMD. The lambs with supplementary grazing on established pasture or supplemented with L. leucocephala foliage gained significantly (P < 0.01) higher live weight than grazed solely on natural pasture in all the experiments. Similarly higher (P < 0.01) average daily gain (ADG) was also observed with supplementary grazing. Income from ram lamb production under hortipastoral systems seems to be quite remunerative in all the experiments. Net gain ($ ha-1) from the hortipastoral systems ranged from 40.4 to 70.1 through ram lamb production. Further, higher income was observed with supplementary grazing on established pasture or supplementation of L. leucocephala foliage. The present study reveals that the orchards (mango and sweet orange) over 5 years old can be developed as hortipastoral systems with suitable understory grass species and boundary plantation of L leucocephala for higher biomass production. These systems can be efficiently integrated for ram lamb production in rainfed areas. Season plays a lot in availability of nutrients and subsequently the growth of the ram lambs under hortipastoral systems in rainfed areas, hence the lambs could be introduced preferably in the middle of rainy season (September month) for maximum weight gain.
Blogpost and illustration by G.R.RAO, D.B.V.RAMANA and N.N.REDDY of Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture (CRIDA) (Santoshnagar, Saidabad, Hyderabad) – grrao(at)crida.in
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This post is entry nr #43 in our #WCA2014 blog competition. The five blogposts with the most and highest votes will receive a signed copy of the book "Trees for Life". The most popular blogpost will get an iPad.
This blogpost received 190 votes, with an average score of 5 (out of a max of 5).
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I am in opinion and many of us will agree with me that at present biofuel/ bioenergy is the need of the hour as an alternate source of fuel/ energy because natural resources are depleting and energy demand is increasing at rapid pace.
We are also very much aware that petroleum sources are limited and therefore the dependence on renewable energy sources has to be increased. Of all renewable energy sources, biomass accounts for over one third of the energy used in developed countries. The two important bio-fuels generated from biomass are bio-diesel and bio-ethanol. Being agriculturist I know that there are a number of plant species yielding oil with low and high molecular weight hydrocarbons, which can provide bio-diesel.
Developed countries are using edible oil seed crops to meet out the demand for biodiesel. But we can not afford to use edible oils for the same in our country. The reason being, edible oil consumption is higher than its domestic production. Hence, there is no possibility of diverting this edible oil for production of bio-diesel. Fortunately in India, there is a large junk of degraded forest land and un-utilized public land, field boundaries and fallow lands of farmers where non-edible oil-seeds can be grown.
Fossil fuels have been the prime source of energy for the transportation and industrial sector for more than a century. However, their rapidly increasing consumption and consequent depletion of reserves clearly show that the end of the “Fossil Fuel Age” is not very far. For developing countries like India, rising world prices of crude oil and petroleum, gives maximum cause for concern. Currently Ethanol and biodiesel are gaining acceptance worldwide as good substitutes for oil in the transportation sector.
India, a country with fast growing economy is facing the challenge of meeting the increasing demand for energy. Presently, the country is testing its options for a partial switch over to bio-fuels as a means of energy. In general, bio-ethanol produced from sugar or starch derived from grains/biomass and biodiesel obtained from the processing of edible and non-edible vegetable oils are used as fuel in automobiles. It is well established that bio-fuels offer a number of environmental, social and economic advantages. The use of bio-fuels may lead to reduction in vehicle pollution and green house gas emissions. The greening of wastelands and regeneration of degraded forest lands through cultivation of bio-fuel crops is another added advantage.
Among the many species, which can yield oil as a source of energy in the form of bio-diesel, Jatropha curcas has been found reasonably suitable due to its short gestation period, hardy nature, high and quality oil content etc. Furthermore, Jatropha plantation provides many other products such as manure for the crops, methane for power generation and glycerol for industrial use besides, enormous advantage of carbon trading. The fruit pulp and the remaining de-oiled seed cake can be used for the production of bio-gas by anaerobic fermentation. Slurry from bio gas plant can further be processed as manure. The slurry of the bio gas plant can be mechanically separated into concentrate of rich nutrients for using in plantation. The dried out slurry forms manure for the agricultural use. Both these products can provide a major substitute to chemical fertilizers and pesticides. The investment in the sector would give boost to support rural based industry by providing raw material for extraction of oils, value addition, packing, transport, marketing etc. A lot of man power can be generated by successfully organizing this programme of plantation of bio-fuel species.
Ethanol production focused over sugarcane molasses as a primary feed stock is neither economically viable nor sustainable with the available technologies. It is therefore, essential to prioritize the various options available so that the efforts are not only directed towards making it sustainable and economically viable, but also pro-poor and resource saving. If promoted, sweet sorghum based ethanol may prove a better option, which would be pro-poor in marginal and rainfed areas. Therefore, selection of the best feed stocks with long-term prospects should be one important course of action; but simultaneous thrust on improving the existing technology for greater efficiency is also central to success.
Finally its my dream that, by 2020 India should become self sufficient in biofuel production from tree borne oil seeds and can meet out the growing demand of bio fuel/bioenergy and serve as a alternate fuel.
Photo: Jatropha fruits
Blogpost and photo by Dr. Sudhir Kumar, Principal Scientist – Horticulture, National Research Centre for Agroforestry (Jhansi, India) – dr65sudhirkumar(at)yahoo.co.in
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This post is entry nr #42 in our #WCA2014 blog competition. The five blogposts with the most and highest votes will receive a signed copy of the book "Trees for Life". The most popular blogpost will get an iPad.
This blogpost received 106 votes, with an average score of 4.5 (out of a max of 5).
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Weak engagement with businesses that operate in forest landscapes and a lack of clarity about who has rights to the carbon in trees are among the problems facing private-sector REDD+ projects, says Isilda Nhantumbo.
Years of intergovernmental negotiations on how to put forests at the heart of global efforts to limit climate change bore fruit last year when nearly 200 nations agreed a framework to implement REDD+, a mechanism that will finance projects that prevent deforestation or enhance forests, so long as they also safeguard biodiversity and local community needs.
With public finance in short supply, the private sector has a big role to play, in ensuring forest nations are ready to take part in REDD+, in implementing projects, and in paying for the results they yield.
While the private sector brings much needed know-how to REDD+ there are challenges about how investments in ecosystem-based commodities — such as carbon in trees — will play out. To assess the ways in which the private sector has already engaged with REDD+, Marisa Camargo at the University of Helsinki and I studied 115 projects in 33 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
These projects cover a total area of more than 28 million hectares. On paper that spells a potentially big reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from land use and it should mean plenty of benefits for local communities too. However, our research reveals two big challenges and suggests several ways to address them.
Failure to engage
The projects operate in large areas of several thousands and even up to 0.5 million hectares. It is obvious that within the landscapes there are several actors driving deforestation and forest degradation – these range from smallholder to businesses of different scales.
The first challenge is that nearly all of the REDD+ projects we reviewed have not involved businesses in the agriculture, mining, forestry and energy sectors that are active in the project areas.
By failing to engage with these other land users — which are both important drivers of deforestation and potential agents of sustainable alternatives — there is a risk that deforestation may cease in one area but increase elsewhere.
There is also a threat to the permanence of REDD+ interventions if, for instance, new pressures on land arise from these other sectors.
More inclusive business models could address this by:
- Mapping all land users and uses in the landscape.
- Applying the principle of free, prior informed consent not only to local communities but also to all other users in small to large businesses.
- Designing means to bring these stakeholders into the REDD+ projects as shareholders.
While this might reduce the overall benefits that each partner can receive (once performance based payments to compensate for reduced emissions are underway), the long-term effects for both emissions reductions and sustainable business goals could surpass the short-term losses.
Carbon rights confusion
The second big challenge is the lack of clarity about who has rights to the carbon in the trees. This clarity will be essential to incentivise land users to adopt and invest in sustainable practices, but across the countries we looked at there is a lack of legislation defining rights to carbon.
Often the overlapping systems of rights mean that communities, governments and private land owners may all expect to own the carbon. Without clarity about who owns — and who can sell — this resource, there are threats of conflicting claims.
Specific contractual agreements such as the Carbon Rights Agreement in the Democratic Republic of Congo can provide the investor/developer some sense of security relating to carbon rights.
Most of the projects we studied are set to last 20-50 years, but some are due to continue for more than 100. Clarity over rights and mapping rights holders is essential to the long-term sustainability of REDD+. It will be costly to achieve this, but the costs of conflict and ineffective mitigation of climate change could well be higher.
To ensure that REDD+ meets its goals of mitigating climate change and bringing additional benefits over the medium and long-term, it will be important to bring on board all stakeholders (including business interests active in the local area) in the design, implementation, and have greater clarity about rights and benefits.
Photo: Logging truck in Cameroon
Blogpost Isilda Nhantumbo, senior researcher, Natural Resources Group, IIED (London, UK) – isilda.nhantumbo(at)iied.org
Photo: World Resources Institute (Creative Commons)
Blogpost originally published by IIED
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This post is entry nr #41 in our #WCA2014 blog competition. The five blogposts with the most and highest votes will receive a signed copy of the book "Trees for Life". The most popular blogpost will get an iPad.
This blogpost received 13 votes, with an average score of 5 (out of a max of 5).
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Climate change is a critical challenge for people of East Africa. Changing climate and weather patterns are predicted to have severe negative impacts on food production, food security and natural resources in East Africa.
Without appropriate responses climate change is likely to constrain economic development and poverty reduction efforts and exacerbate already pressing difficulties in a country like Kenya. Kenya is one of the countries whose economy is deeply rooted in climate sensitive sectors like agriculture, fisheries and forestry and Siaya County is expected to be hardest hit.
According to KWTA 2013 report, Siaya County has the least forested area at 0.42 %.This is caused by expansion of agricultural land, clearing of bushes for timber, charcoal and fuel wood, poor cultural practices.
Siaya County has a population size of about 842,304 according to the 2009 Population Census of which are 47% are males and 53% females living in 199,034 households. The county has a surface area of 2,530.38 sq km culminating to a population density of 333 people per km2. Therefore there is an urgent need for taking the challenge of climate change and the resulting impact of unsustainable development very seriously.
CAED through this workshop will bring together key stakeholders in the county to think carefully about the consequences of unsustainable consumer focused lifestyles and find ways on how to act in their local context, to avoid the worst predicted impact.
A planned workshop with the following objectives:
- To foster understanding about the global impacts of climate change in the county. This will be achieved by capacity building of stakeholders and awareness campaign by use of IEC materials and 30 min community radio talk show. THE TEN TREE Campaign will be launched in the county by the county governor.
- To inform the stake holders on ways to implement energy and water use best practises with 30% adoption by mid 2015.
- To encourage the county government to adopt policies to promote efficient energy and water use by mid 2015.
Course Agenda
| Course | Course Content | Objectives of the course | Methodology/Approach |
| Understanding Climate Change Science, Climate Change Scenario, Responses to Climate Change,and Basic terminology | Basic Climate Change Science: Global Warming, Greenhouse Gases and Consequences | At the end of this course the participant should be able to: •Understand the meaning of weather, climate, climate change, and global warming •Understand the source of greenhouse gases, consequences of GHG concentration in the atmosphere (mainly temperature change) |
•PowerPoint Presentations •Discussion •Question and answers |
| Climate Change Scenarios | This session will introduce the trainees with the different climate change scenarios and their consequences such as: •Changes in temperature (changes in land Surface Temperature, changes in Sea Surface Temperature) •Variation in Rainfall and •Ice melting and Sea level Rise |
•PowerPoint Presentations •Discussion •Question and answers |
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| Responses to Climate Change – Mitigation and Adaptation | At the end of this course, the participant should be able to understand: •The two key response measures to deal with climate change i.e. mitigation and adaptation- setting up tree nurseries, tree planting, sound agricultural practises, clean energy technologies •Carbon emission and compensation regarding carbon emission |
•PowerPoint Presentations •Discussion •Question and answers |
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| Key Terminologies | •At the end of this course the participant should be able to understand key terminologies of climate change: Impacts, vulnerability, adaptation, mitigation, risk, hazards, shock, variability, trend, exposure, sensitivity, adaptive capacity etc. •The purpose of this session is to assess knowledge base of the participants on different terminologies of climate change and bring them on a common ground. |
•PowerPoint Presentations •Discussion •Question and answers |
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| Understanding the Impacts, Vulnerability and linkage between climate change and disaster | Impacts of climate change on different regions of the world | This will cover impacts of climate change on different regions of the world under different climate change scenarios. | •PowerPoint Presentations •Discussion •Question and answers |
| Link Between Climate Change and Disaster | The session titled “Link Between Climate Change and Disaster” is designed to provide Identification of area specific extreme climatic events or disasters; i.e. flood, cyclone, etc. Analysis of intensity and frequency of those events depending on temporal dimension |
•PowerPoint Presentations •Discussion •Question and answers |
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| Adaptation to Climate Change, Link between Adaptation & Development, and Group Exercise | Adaptation | Adaptation science, types of adaptation, context specificity of adaptation etc This session will cover link between adaptation and development, where commonalities and differences exist. |
•PowerPoint Presentations •Case study •Discussion •Question and answers |
| Vulnerability to Climate Change | Concept of vulnerability, vulnerability to natural, physical and social system, how vulnerability varies within societies etc | •PowerPoint Presentations •Discussion •Question and answers |
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| Group exercise | In this session, the trainees will be segregated into groups and they will assess vulnerability of different sectors based on local knowledge. | •Group formation, •Deliberation of group works on work sheet •Group presentation •Question and answer |
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| Field Visit | Visiting Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) Kakamega, and a Clean Technology shop in Kisumu | The objectives of this visit is to expose the participants to tree nursery development, types of improved cook stoves and lighting solutions suitable for people at the bottom of the pyramid | •PowerPoint Presentations •Discussion •Question and answers |
Expected outcomes
Short term (6 months-1 year):
Visit to the county government office to establish progress made by county office on policy, 2 Tree nursery establishment in schools per sub county-school going children will plan trees on their birthday and take the responsibility of taking care of the tree, at least 10Trees planted per household, at least 100 trees planted per school, at least one clean technology adopted by 40% of households.
Long term expectations (1+ years):
County government to initiate environmental protection policy: Enforcement of tree planting legislation, solar lamps adoption, clean cookstoves,tree planting campaigns-biannual, organize agricultural shows to show best practices-annually.
Method of evaluation
Use of KAP (Knowledge, Awareness and Practice) survey which will help show levels of adoption and to know awareness levels and impact of the training
Working closely with stakeholders to access progress they are making on various proposed set of activities
Blogpost and photo by Simon Ogutu – CEO of Community Action on Environment and Development – CAED (Nairobi, Kenya) – simonogutu(at)yahoo.com
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This post is entry nr #40 in our #WCA2014 blog competition. The five blogposts with the most and highest votes will receive a signed copy of the book "Trees for Life". The most popular blogpost will get an iPad.
This blogpost received 9 votes, with an average score of 4 (out of a max of 5).
Follow our #WCA2014 social reporting teamfollow our social reporting team via the #WCA2014 tag on Twitter, our blog and our Facebook page.
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The World Congress on Agroforestry will be carbon neutral, even though it is attracting over 800 participants from all over the world. Most participants will be flying to Delhi. Experts in the headquarters of the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) have estimated that the carbon emissions of the Congress will be about 900 tonnes. ICRAF has purchased carbon credits to offset that amount of carbon from the Carbon Neutral Company, which has issued the Congress with Carbon Neutral Certificate.
This carbon neutrality comes on the heels of ICRAF achieving carbon-neutral status in December 2012. ICRAF Headquarters and regional offices offset their emissions and were certified as a CarbonNeutral® Office by purchasing carbon credits from the Kasigau Corridor REDD+ Project in Kenya. Actions are already planned or underway at ICRAF to reduce the carbon footprint in the long term, including a new recycling system, LED lighting, rainwater harvesting and an improved video conferencing system to reduce the need for air travel.
The CarbonNeutral Protocol is the global standard for carbon neutral certification, providing the pragmatic guidance businesses need to build credible reduction solutions and offset greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to net zero. The CarbonNeutral Protocol guarantees the integrity and credibility of clients’ carbon neutral certification and enables them to be certified CarbonNeutral®. The Protocol is revised and updated annually to reflect the changing requirements of both science and business.
Dear Citizens of Mother Earth,
My name is Subabul (Leuceana Leucocephala).
I have witnessed the evolution process of the Mother Earth may be far before than the birth of human species. I respect nature and the law of the nature. Whatever work assigned to me by nature I was and am doing that with purity, honesty, unselfishness and love. I do not know how to measure my contribution to nature or anybody’s contribution to nature? From my birth I have learnt from nature that whatever we get from nature we have to manage and live happily with that. And whatever we have, we should give to nature and offer our services to nature.
However, it is seen that from the evolution of species on the earth to the present era, trees are performing unaccountable role for human as well as natural balance. Only 400 years ago I came to know the word ‘USE’ of me from the species “humans” and from that point my story starts, ‘A journey from the most liked to most un-liked tree’.
Humans says that I am originally from Central America and the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico where its fodder value was recognized over 400 years ago by the Spanish conquistadores who carried leucaena feed and seed on their galleons to the Philippines to feed their stock. From there it has spread to most countries of the tropical world where leucaena was used as a shade plant for plantation crops. It was introduced into Australia in the late 19th century and it was naturalized in parts of northern Australia by 1920.
Just three decades ago, my recognition was as “most liked” tree on farms and they called me ‘Miracle tree’ but now I feel very sad about my recognition of ‘MOST UN-LIKED TREE ON FARMS’. I became underutilized. There are millions of tree species which are useful one or another way to human kind as a medicine, shelter, food, wood etc. and considered as birth to cradle of man. With such a range of species, one tree species which is known for its diversified uses, yes I am talking about myself on ‘My name is Leucaena leucocephala, excuse me please, a tree, commonly known as Subabul in India’.
I came into existence about 1890 a little-known legume tree (Leucaena leucocephala) arrived unannounced in northern Australia. By the 1920’s this leucaena, now referred to as ‘common’ leucaena (Leucocephala ssp. leucocephala) had colonised pockets of ungrazed, non-agricultural land along urban and coastal locations in northern Australia, Mexico, Brazil. At that time no-one was to realize that over 100 years later selected L. leucocephala ssp. glabrata cultivars would be established for pasture in more than 10 million hectare area worldwide. More than 800 varieties of this species are known and broadly classified into four types viz, Haiwaiian type, Salvador type, Peru type and Cunningham type.
As in India, I was introduced by the BAIF foundation in seventies mainly as an agroforestry crop to meet the increasing demand for fuel, fodder and timber for poles and posts from Mexico. Late prime Minister of India, Smt. Indira Gandhi, changed Leucaena name from “Kubabul” to “Subabul” due its wide adaptability and multipurpose uses to farmers.
I, the Subabul, am known for my fast growing rate and can be grown in variety of soils and climatic conditions due to my tolerance to high temperature and extended drought and remarkable regenerative capacity. Subabul wood is used for light construction, poles, props, pulp, furniture, flooring and fuel wood. Subabul wood is an excellent fuel wood with a specific gravity of 0.45-0.55 and a high heating value of 4500 kcal/kg. Subabul forage has a high protein and carotene content and pellets or cubes are internationally marketed as animal feed. Scientist of Indian Grassland and Fodder Research Institute, Jhansi reported that the nutritious fodder quality increases milk yield by 20 per cent. Subabul can store 500 (kg/year/ha) of nitrogen in soil and improves nutrient status.
As a woody-stemmed tree, I (leucaena) act as a carbon sink by sequestering significant amounts of carbon from the atmosphere in its woody frame and in additional soil organic matter. Similarly, methane emissions from cattle grazing leucaena are substantially lower than for tropical grasses, probably due to the high digestibility and condensed tannin content of leucaena forage. Subabul yields 30 to 40 t/acre in three years after planting. The same plants rejuvenate and are ready for harvest after every three years. The price paid to the farmer is Rs. 1,350 per tonne while the factory price is around Rs 2,000 from paper industries in India.
Hence, the multiple utility of species makes them suitable to farmers for planting on their own field without much difficulty and extensive research brought many varieties to fulfill farmer’s requirement. K 8 and K 636 variety of subabul adapted extremely well to semi-arid conditions and soon became one of the most popular species for all types of forestry programmes in India. Due to its wide variety of uses and it was this multiplicity of roles that led to the worldwide reputation of the subabul as a ‘miracle tree’.
It’s a Win-Win situation now. There is proverb ‘If you are looking for a big opportunity find a big problem’. I found the humans always “blaming” rather than “understanding” the inbuilt systems of my growth. If you follow the nature’s inbuilt law of my systems, I can assure that I will regain my status as ‘Wonder Tree” or “Miracle Tree”. Now it’s an opportunity for all humans to promote me in the benefit of nature in the benefit of the humans. I will end my letter with very strong statement, ‘what we are doing to the forests of the world is but a mirror of reflection of what we are doing to ourselves and to one another’
VOTE FOR ME TO REGAIN MY STATUS AS MIRACLE TREE- I want to serve for you – give me an opportunity to serve for the nature and in the benefit of nature and humanity,
THANKS FOR YOUR KIND SUPPORT AND COOPERATION
Always yours,
Winning regards,
Leuceana Lecucocephala
Honest Citizen of Mother Earth
(for the nature by the nature)
Blogpost and illustration by
Sangram Chavan – Scientist, National Research Centre for Agroforestry (Jhansi, India) – sangramc8(at)gmail.com and
Harshvardhan Deshmukh – Assistant Professor, College of Forestry (Akola, India) – hkdeshmukh1(at)rediffmail.com
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This post is entry nr #39 in our #WCA2014 blog competition. The five blogposts with the most and highest votes will receive a signed copy of the book "Trees for Life". The most popular blogpost will get an iPad.
This blogpost received 119 votes, with an average score of 5 (out of a max of 5).
Follow our #WCA2014 social reporting teamfollow our social reporting team via the #WCA2014 tag on Twitter, our blog and our Facebook page.
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Indonesia has 39,549,447 hectares area of tropical forest, comprehensive biodiversity and plasmanutfah in the world. It is on the island of Sumatra, Kalimantan and Sulawesi. Actually, if this country wants the apocalypse is very easy for them. Just cutting all the trees in the forest then the Earth surely doom.
Because the earth is very dependent with the rainforest is to maintain the balance of the Amazon rain forest climate because not strong enough to balance the Earth’s climate.
And now they are little by little has been devastated only to a handful of people who have money for estates and golf courses. How ironic.
No doubt the forests in Indonesia is one of the world’s wealth that deserves to be preserved. Because of our forests is one of the lungs of the world, who work to provide the oxygen needs of all living things in the world.
As a tropical rain forest, Indonesia clearly has a very significant role for the health of the world because you can imagine that how much CO2 can be captured by Indonesian forest?? what if calculated with the environmental health impacts? and how much economic value contributed by the Indonesian forest carbon recovery services from the sinking!. It is certainly a powerful force of nature.
However, whenever there is a problem of forest destruction due to intentional or whether it is not, then the eyes of the world then pointed straight arrogantly as if we destroy the civilization of the world, but if honest as possible during this world is less aware of the “services” Indonesian forest that has lasted through hundreds years to preserve the freshness of the world. Imagine Indonesia which is generally a developed country which is actually the largest CO2 emitter in the world?.
So this is the solution for the tropical rain forest conservation efforts in Indonesia:
The first, society education. In rainforest countries including Indonesian , local residents sometimes do not understand what the importance of the rain forest. Through educational programs, they can learn that forests provide key services (such as water) and is home to animals and plants that will not be found in any other part of the world.
The second, rainforest rehabilitation. In protecting the rainforest, we also need to see how the damaged forests can be normalized. Although it is not possible to replant a rainforest, some of the rain forest can recover after clear-cutting, especially if they receive assistance through the planting of trees. In some cases, can also use the forest land that has been cleared for agriculture, so it’s possible to provide food for people around him. When they have food, they do not need to cut down more forest to plant crops.
The third, Living with no damage to the Environment. In rainforest countries, many scientists and organizations working to help local people live in a way that is not too damaging to the environment. Some people call this idea of “sustainable development” (development of prolonged). Sustainable development has the goal, and the goal is for improving the lives of people who at the same time protecting the environment. Without improving the lives of people living in and around the rain forest, it is very difficult to protect parks and wildlife. So that parks can be useful, local people should be interested in conservation. Currently, Indonesia has also attempted to use a system of carbon credits through avoided deforestation.
The fourth, Wildlife Protection. An effective way to protect the rain forest is to involve indigenous people in the management of the park. The natives know more about the forest than anyone and have an interest in safeguarding the ecosystem that provides food, shelter, and clean water. These gardens can also help the economy in rainforest countries by way ecotourism.
Blogpost and photo by Qisthi Mahran (Jakarta, Indonesia) – qisthi.mahran(at)yahoo.co.id
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This post is entry nr #38 in our #WCA2014 blog competition. The five blogposts with the most and highest votes will receive a signed copy of the book "Trees for Life". The most popular blogpost will get an iPad.
This blogpost received 43 votes, with an average score of 5 (out of a max of 5).
Follow our #WCA2014 social reporting teamfollow our social reporting team via the #WCA2014 tag on Twitter, our blog and our Facebook page.
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India is at the centre stage of agroforestry practices for different reasons. It is under debate for sustainability of intensive agriculture, increasing forest cover, improving ecological and environmental services and for meeting the demand for tree based needs as their availability form government forests has significantly declined on implementation of the judgment of Godavarman V/s Union of India for imposing vain on green felling in most of the government forests.
There are already many blogposts submitted from India, giving different versions. I read most of them and want to put up a different view on emerging Indian agroforestry as an orphan, which may invite critical observations and also some meaningful debate and discussion from many.
I have been a follower of agroforestry for different reasons. I live in a locality rich in agoroforestry practices evolved in the recent past in the Tarai Region in northern India. I have many colleagues who practice agroforestry on their farm land, many of them being mainly absentee land-owners, want to retain their land resources with them under some farming system, get tax free cumulative and collective agricultural income from tree growth, and as a business opportunity by hiring land from others.
While having discussions with many of them, they invariably agree that the tree based agroforestry pays better and higher remunerative returns than other farm land-use options, it is less risky, less labour intensive and is considered as fixed deposit which could be realized any time at higher returns and there is better unorganized market available for sale of tree produce. In fact, some of them agree that the practice of agroforestry is better than some of the present day business options. Many of the NRIs and so called educated youths revisiting agriculture are also motivated by these reasons.
On intangible benefits from tree culture, many of them confirm that growing trees for ecological and environmental services may be one of the objectives of government programs with public money. For individual small growers, they invest themselves in it for better and remunerative returns from their land holdings rather than emotional ecological considerations. The day the returns from tree culture becomes less remunerative than the traditional cropping systems from limited land resources, they would shift their farm land to other land use options. An example they frequently cite is the policy paralysis in 2003-04 when many of the wood based units were closed down, wood prices crashed and many of them uprooted trees from their farm land fearing less returns. Could this not happen again?
Now let me touch the real issues of “Orphan Agroforestry” in India.
- Both Indian Forest Policy 1988 and National Agriculture Policy 2000 promote agroforestry in their own versions. None of them cover the issues outlined above from farmer’s perspective and ground level realities.
- It is claimed that the research in agroforestry is the mandate of agriculture sector at the national level, in practice; they do not have pre-and post- linkages and support systems for tree culture with the farming community. Research on agroforestry is highly overlapping, agriculture sector venturing into tree research and forestry sector on agriculture and other intercrops.
- Major tree produce for industry and domestic needs now comes from farm land, There is no dedicated institute for agroforestry research, extension and other support systems in the country? If not, why not; and if someone claims yes, what is the contribution of the same? The lessons learnt from crash of wood prices between 2003-2005 in North India indicate that both forest and agriculture sector run away to own the responsibility in agroforestry extension.
- The role of forestry establishment needs to be redefined in the light of change in the role of forest management in the country. When most of the government forests are now under conservation forestry with very less acreage under production forestry, the sector still does not have any institute at national level specifically dedicated to integrated tree culture on farm land with timber production in consideration.
- The role of forestry sector is more of creating barriers in harvesting, transit and sale of farm grown trees rather in their promotion. It is the main reason why the growers do not feel comfortable in having linkages with them. Having programs for promoting farm grown trees for around half a century now, still these barriers exist. Forestry sector still claims to be the main promoter of tree culture but with fewer credentials on the ground level results.
- There is dual taxation from agriculture and forestry sectors on farm grown tree produce.
- Forestry sector in some states do not recommend planting eucalypts, while promote it in others- a total confusion and lack of professionalism.
- There are number of government programs and institutes promoting trees without effective monitoring and evaluation. Van Mahotsav program being operative since 1950’s largely remained as government publicity like many other programs.
- Private sector promotes tree culture so far they get low cost wood within the country. The recent import of cheaper wood and semi processed wood products in large quantity from many countries may have far leading consequences if the country does not have long term vision on agroforestry.
The main contributor in the success of the present day agroforestry is the farming community who has succeeded in it as there is a market for tree produce. The day market dries up; the practice would also decline despite numerous advocacies.
Agroforestry is the third main land use after agriculture and forestry. It is for the benefit of every one and as a solution to many existing problems of farm land production systems. The country however needs a clear-cut policy and institutional mechanism for its long term sustainability, which unfortunately do not exist as on today.
Photo: Clonal eucalypts based agroforestry near foot hills of Himachal Pradesh. The state forest department does not recommend and promote its planting
Blogpost and photo by Daksh Dhiman (Rudrapur, Uttarakhand, India) – dakshdhiman54(at)ymail.com>
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This post is entry nr #37 in our #WCA2014 blog competition. The five blogposts with the most and highest votes will receive a signed copy of the book "Trees for Life". The most popular blogpost will get an iPad.
This blogpost received 13 votes, with an average score of 4.5 (out of a max of 5).
Follow our #WCA2014 social reporting teamfollow our social reporting team via the #WCA2014 tag on Twitter, our blog and our Facebook page.
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From the time immemorial human beings bought wild variety of crops and domesticated the same for the sustenance. Till date the tradition practice of taking filed crops in to the forested landscapes by clearing forests prevails. Human beings axed million hectares of forests for the cultivation of food crops. This practice has to be stopped completely. At present the forest cover of the country including the trees outside the forest is 23.81 percent. The Government of India as set a national target of 33 percent as a threshold limit to maintain ecological balance.
It is really frightening? And is very difficult to achieve. On one side we are promoting afforestation and on the other side we are giving environment clearance for multinational companies to undertake industrial projects. More over the population is increasing at an alarming rate and climate is changing rapidly. Hence there is need to find a wayout to change this existing trend. Indeed at this juncture there is urgent need to bring back the lost forests. It means integrating tree component in to agricultural land scapes, for this the ideal way is Agroforetsry. This practice will help in maintaining the balance between sustenance of human beings from cultivating food crops and trees in their farmland. Moreover it reduces complete pressure on forests and controls deforestation and promotes afforestation.
The way out
The ideal way to promote Agroforestry (trees in crop lands) is the “festival of tree planting “Vana Mahotsava”. This movement was initiated in the year 1950 by India’s Union Minister for Agriculture, Dr. K M Munshi as a crusade to save mother earth. During this event millions of trees are planted with energetic participation of the locals and various agencies. It is annual and is to be celebrated from July 1 to 7. Monsoon is there during July and is special month for trees and tree planting. The main objective of the festival is to inculcate tree consciousness and love of trees amongst the people and popularize the planting and tending of trees in farms, villages, schools, municipal and public lands for their aesthetic, economic and protective needs. Awareness campaigns are held at various levels.
Vana Mahotsava week
National Research Centre for Agroforestry, based at Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh has been promoting agroforestry since its establishment in the Central part of India. The institute has been celebrating the festival and created separate window during the first week of July (Vana Mahotsava Week) every year. As part of the festival this year around 8412 seedlings of diverse species of fruits and timber trees mainly preferred by farmers were distributed free of cost under the Parasi- Sind Watershed project in collaboration with ICRISAT- International Centre for Research in Semi-Arid Tropics and the festival was celebrated along with school childrens and villagers at the project site. The number of seedlings planted during the festival last year was 3061. The preference of farmers for particular tree/fruit species were studied through a pre questionnaire and it was found that majority preferred Tectona grandis the number of seedlings distributed 7300), followed by Bambusa vulgaris (1113) Citrus lemon (704), Emblica officianalis (550) etc.
The Mystery Unlocked
We wondered why there was huge demand for teak seedlings from the villagers and started enquiring them. Finally villagers spilled the bean. They told us the name of a teak growing farmer called Lakhan Singh in the neighbouring village. As on date he has 3000 teak seedlings and the current standing stock as of now will fetch crores to him. We were surprised to hear this and requested the villagers to take us to the mystery man. The team of scientists and group of farmers from the village reached his place. It was unbelievable to see the standing crop. He has planted nearly 1000 teak seedlings on his own during 2009 -2010 and right now they are 3- 4 years old. He is adding 1000 seedlings every year. We have interacted with him regarding his achievement and asked him to share his experience and views with the farmers. Now his farm has become site of learning. We invited him for this year’s festival. He has accepted our invitation warmly and witnessed the festival
Agroforestry- ideal way to integrate trees in to crop lands.
It is the only viable option to promote fruit and timber trees. It will help in increasing forest cover and conserving biodivesrity. Farm fields can be slowly converted in to integrated croplands or semi forests or orchards. Finally we can bring back the lost forests. For this the traditional tool of extension is vanamahotsava. Come and join us in bringing back the lost forests.
Farmer; An informal agriculture scientist
Finally I want to say that farmer is an informal agricultural scientist in himself. He has integrated his knowledge of all agriculture and allied subjects and he is practicing at field level. Our role as scientist is handholding and to serve him as a facilitator. It is clear from this case that farmer to farmer exchange of technology only prevails for ever and lasts for ever.
Photo: Celebrating Vanamahotsava with Lakhan Singh (face in rectangle)
Blogpost and photo by Sridhar K.B, Scientist (Forestry) – National Research Center for Agroforestry (Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh,India) – sriaranya(at)gmail.com
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This post is entry nr #36 in our #WCA2014 blog competition. The five blogposts with the most and highest votes will receive a signed copy of the book "Trees for Life". The most popular blogpost will get an iPad.
This blogpost received 147 votes, with an average score of 5 (out of a max of 5).
Follow our #WCA2014 social reporting teamfollow our social reporting team via the #WCA2014 tag on Twitter, our blog and our Facebook page.
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Land productivity per unit area is one of the major issues for researchers and policymakers. In the context of climate change, weather aberration, land degradation, scarcity of agricultural land, increasing demand for food, fuel and fodder, agroforestry is one of the major options for its recognized potential for enhancing unit land productivity. Trees being integral component of agroforestry systems, tree canopy imposes limitation for light interception to the understory crops. Due to low incident light under the canopy, the resultant shade creates a major constraint for optimal crop productivity in comparison to the sole crop being grown without any trees. Intensity of shade varies from partial to deep depending upon the tree canopy, its growing pattern and the microclimate. However, the important question is that what would be the critical limit of such shade?
Without trees, no agroforestry is meaningful and at the same time, shade over the understory crops, due to existing canopy of tree is inevitable. More clearly, challenges of shade i.e. low available incident sunlight for the crops and the practice of agroforestry go hand-in-hand. Thus it is essential to select crops which can tolerate shade without compromising its potential yield or we should have resilient crops having minimum loss of yield due to shade.
With this background, for making agroforestry more popular, most effective and sustainable to the stakeholders mainly keeping the focus of our valued farmers, efforts are being made for the past several years at our Centre (National Research Centre for Agroforestry, Jhansi, India) towards understanding the shade-induced (low light) constraints and deciphering the shade tolerance of crops for agroforestry importance. To accomplish the challenging objectives, experiments are being conducted for the past several years taking various important food grain crops like wheat, mustard, green gram, soybean, black gram, sesame, peas etc. by growing these crops in field under three simulated shade-net houses or without shade in open field. The simulated shade-net houses (25 x 8 x 3 m) were so designed that it provides 33% shade (about 67% light), 50% shade (about 50% light) and 75 % shade (about 25% light) (See the photograph for an example).
Throughout the experiments, a holistic approach (from cell to environment) focusing on various aspects of physiology including crop phenology, biochemical and some molecular level traits have been investigated. To our knowledge, for the first time, our experiments revealed that 33% shade would be a critical limit, at least, for the semi-arid conditions of Central India as the important physiological adaptive traits are being highly down-regulated from 50% shade and more onwards depending on the select crops. Role of several physiological and biochemical traits mainly pigments (like chlorophyll a/b), antioxidant like anthocyanin, light managing biomolecule like epicuticular wax, functioning of chloroplast(estimated thylakoid electron transport rate), photosystem 2 activity (mainly photochemical efficiency, dark adaptive Fv/Fm; effective PS2 quantum yield), assessment of photosynthetic Carbon gain (through net CO2 assimilation rate), transpiration and photosynthetic water use efficiency, light energy management and leaf protein profiles etc. have been deciphered towards understanding the causes of physiological limitation due to low light (shade).
Efforts are made as new initiatives to delineate comprehensive set of most responsive and candidate traits at much greater details through physiological, biochemical and molecular level and for which the project requires apt funding as well. As light management is the prime factor for the crops under agroforestry system to maximise their yield under varying shade, towards this direction, several indices on the leaf optical properties of the crops of agroforestry importance are being studied using spectro-radiometry techniques. For this several indices like rate of leaf Transmittance (T), Reflectance (R), NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index), PRI (Photochemical Reflectance Index) etc. are being standardized in combination with simultaneous measurement of gas exchange and chlorophyll fluorescence techniques for various environmental and microclimatic conditions for agroforestry systems.
Thus our novel efforts are on and it requires priority for alleviating the constraints due to tree canopy shade (light limiting) on the crops for agroforestry importance towards making agroforestry more effective and sustainable for the days ahead.
Photo: Crop phenology under 33% shade (67% Sunlight
Blogpost and photo by Dr. Badre Alam, Senior Scientist (Plant Physiology)
National Research Centre for Agroforestry (Jhansi, India) – badrealam@gmail.com
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This post is entry nr #35 in our #WCA2014 blog competition. The five blogposts with the most and highest votes will receive a signed copy of the book "Trees for Life". The most popular blogpost will get an iPad.
This blogpost received 153 votes, with an average score of 4.5 (out of a max of 5).
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Mrs Rajeshwari and Mr Parameshwar are farming couple living in the village of Gonsar, located in the midst of lush evergreen forests, in the central Western Ghats of South India. Since the whole region is forested, local people are very much dependent on the various forest resources, especially trees, and have been trying to domesticate these in their farms, orchards and other forms of land types.
Parameshwar and Rajeshwari, who participated in the research, are one of many local families that have been trying to conserve several tree species and varieties on their farms for the last fifty years or so, by domesticating and cultivating them. Garcinia spp, Cinnamomum spp, Syzigium spp, Myristica spp, Mangifera indica and Artocarpus spp are a few to mention.
As Rajeshwari explains, “Our work is to look for the different varieties of mango grown in our orchard or in the wild and to pick those up during the fruiting season for making various recipes, to be eaten together with the main staple food: rice. These mango trees grow wild or are cultivated, but they are all local varieties, both sweet varieties and sour ones, which we use for making Tambli, Chutney, Gojju, Appehuli, Saasime, etc. We collect the young and immature fruits of mango that have a special aroma and that are of good keeping quality, and we preserve them for years to prepare the pickle. We use these varieties for table purposes or in making of ‘Rasayana’ a sweet dish with mango fruit along with Jaggery, coconut, salt and other ingredients.”
Like their fellow villagers, Parameshwar and Rajeshwari also use the fruit rind of Garcinia indica to prepare a soft drink and as a souring agent in preparing various recipes. Butter extracted from the seed is locally used as edible oil and has several medicinal properties. Fruit rind of Garcinia gummigutta is collected mainly for commercial sale, whereas the butter extracted from the seeds is used for frying sweet dishes or consumed with some dishes. Jack fruit and mango are additionally important fruit trees used for making recipes and several dishes.
Parameshwar, Rajeshwari and their family have more than one hundred species of native forest trees in their orchards and farms that have been domesticated over the years. These include 200 trees of Garcinia indica and 30 trees of Garcinia gummigutta, more than 500 trees of jack fruit and 600 mango trees. They have conserved four species of Garcinia and at least 55 varieties of mango (Mangifera indica). Ten varieties of mango are of locally important and threatened varieties. Along with other family members, Parameshwar and Rajeshwari are maintaining many native fruit trees even though they are not commercially important and do not give cash returns. Besides, they are promoting the conservation of many of these varieties by providing scions freely and grafting them free of cost to the trees of their neighbours, villagers and adjacent villagers. In fact, identifying elite varieties of mango and other species, conserving them through grafting and other techniques in nurseries, sharing or exchanging these plant materials with other farmers are all regular activities for these farmers.
Women’s and men’s roles in this process are well defined and complementary. As Rajeshwari states, “Men assist us in collecting the fruits at the stage of mature or immature fruiting. However, processing, preserving, making of the recipes, serving them to the family and relatives, friends or even during special occasions is done entirely by me and other female members of our family”. Regarding the propagation and cultivation aspects of the mango tree, she says, “we (women) do not have much role to play in raising of the plants, purchasing mango plants or cultivating them. What we do is assist men in watering, sometimes weeding, and driving away the monkeys that come to eat the mango fruits when men are engaged in other agriculture activities in different locations. Unlike our husbands, we do not help other farmers graft special varieties of mango; however we do exchange the fruits with other women from neighbouring households in the village.”
Research undertaken in Gonsar, Kalgadde-Kanchigadde and Salkani villages of the Central Western Ghats in India brought to light the gender-specific knowledge, skills, management and conservation practices related to NFTs. A combination of participatory methods such as resource mapping and activity calendars revealed women’s exclusive knowledge of NFTs for domestic use and home gardening that is illustrated above, as well as men’s knowledge of NFT silviculture. Using innovative tools that promote collective learning, such as four cell analysis, women and men brought forth their knowledge about the current status of various NFTs, many of which are threatened species and varieties, and all of which need to be managed in a sustainable way both in the forest and on cultivated lands. The research activities highlighted the pressing need to conserve the 25 fruit tree species and several varieties of wild mango present in the study area, and demonstrated that traditional gendered knowledge of these species is essential for achieving this. Value addition and marketing of some of these species, based on women’s traditional fruit processing knowledge, are being supported to provide livelihood benefits and additional incentives for conservation.
Empowering women as experts of tropical fruit diversity, is a program by Bioversity International Gender Research Fellowship Program, funded by the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry.
Photo: Local women involved in the participatory research on Tropical Fruit Trees
Blogpost by Narasimha Hegde, Gender Fellow, LIFE Trust (Sirsi, India) – lifetrusts(at)gmail.com
Photo by Srinivas
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This post is entry nr #34 in our #WCA2014 blog competition. The five blogposts with the most and highest votes will receive a signed copy of the book "Trees for Life". The most popular blogpost will get an iPad.
This blogpost received 91 votes, with an average score of 5 (out of a max of 5).
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It’s November 2013 and I’m chasing Ismaël’s youngest son around the cabbages trying to get my sunglasses back. Behind me Ismaël and my colleague Badrou are showing representatives from the Anjouan governor’s office around the demonstration plot, and Ismaël is explaining the agroforestry techniques he has used and what income he’s generated. When the tour is finished Ismaël insists on giving us some of his splendid aubergine crop to take home, and I finally manage to prise my glasses back from his disappointed son. There are smiles all around; Housni from the governor’s office is impressed by what he’s seen, and Ismaël is proud to be showing off the fruits of his hard labour. But Ismaël didn’t always feel so positive about his future.
In early 2012 he didn’t know how he would manage to feed his kids and send them to school: the fields he inherited were infertile and unworkable, and there are few jobs on Anjouan, one of three islands which make up the Union of the Comoros. Anjouan is facing environmental collapse: according to UN figures, between 2000 and 2010 it had the highest deforestation rate in the world, and around 30 of its 45 permanent rivers have become intermittent.
Like many other Anjouanese, Ismaël thought the neighbouring French-controlled island of Mayotte presented the best opportunity to find a job and make enough money to support his family. Six times, Ismaël paid a hefty fee to a boat captain and made the perilous, illegal journey by night to Mayotte, crammed with 30 to 40 others in a small boat, hoping to get past the radar and the French police. Three times he was caught at sea, three times he was caught later in Mayotte, and each time sent back to Anjouan. Other would-be illegal migrants were not so lucky: thousands have died trying to make the crossing. Boat sinkings are a monthly tragedy, but the situation is so grave on Anjouan that people keep trying to make the crossing. After his sixth failed attempt to establish himself on Mayotte, Ismaël had used up all his savings, and returned to his village, disillusioned and despairing.
Older people in Ismaël’s village, Adda, would talk about the time when they all made a good living from their fields and the source provided water for the whole region. But now the forest was gone, the land no longer produced, and everyone had to queue for hours to get a jerry can of water. Ismaël couldn’t see how he’d be able to grow anything on his dusty field by the village football pitch. But a friend told him about our NGO Dahari, how we were teaching people to make their fields fertile again. Ismaël sought out Badrou, one of our agricultural technicians who came regularly to Adda, to ask about this new scheme.
Badrou took him to see other areas of Anjouan. They went first to Koni-Djodjo, where there is barely a tree in sight, the soil falls through your fingers like sand, and the villagers can barely make a living from the land. Then Badrou took Ismaël to meet farmers from the Moya region who had previously worked with Dahari. Their fields were surrounded by trees and they showed Ismaël substantial crops of bananas and plentiful tubercules of manioc. Ismaël thought Dahari’s methods must be worth trying.
During 2012 Badrou visited Ismaël at least once a week in his field to advise him. First, Ismaël planted tree-cuttings of Glyricidia and Sandragon around the edge of his field and also along the contour lines. These are leguminous tree species that fix nitrogen, fertilising the soil; they are also very fast-growing and within a few months had formed a barrier against erosion so that the fertile topsoil was no longer washed away by the rain. He used manure from his livestock to fertilise his field so that he could plant market-garden crops like lettuce and tomatoes. He also planted feed for his cow and constructed a stable to improve its health and productivity. And he started growing bananas and cassava mixed in with leguminous permanent-cover plants to keep fertility in his field all year round. By the end of 2012 he was making more money than he’d ever made before, enough to feed his family properly and send his children to school.
Ismaël’s story is a striking example of what can be achieved by investing in sustainable agriculture, and his desire to convince others of this has made this story a powerful communication tool. In the last year Ismaël has received a stream of visitors to his field: government representatives, journalists, partner institutions… He has featured on the BBC’s From Our Own Correspondent (episode from 31 October) and spoken at the launch of a film about his story in the Anjouan capital, Mutsamudu. The film was played on loop on Anjouan TV, went viral in our intervention villages, has over 5000 views on YouTube, and won second prize at the inaugural Comoros International Film Festival.
On the journey back to Mutsamudu the governor’s representative says he’s convinced by what he’s seen: Dahari’s work on agroforestry and agricultural productivity is addressing fundamental problems facing Anjouan. He wants us to expand our intervention zone and promises to provide matching government funding so we can attract international funders. We’re delighted that, after so much effort, our work is attracting wider recognition and support in the Comoros. We’ve shown that agroforestry mixed with productive agriculture is the future for Anjouan – to date we’ve helped over 2200 farmers increase their yields in a sustainable manner. Now the challenge is to expand the scale and impact. To that end we are recruiting a team of village outreach officers, who will be supported by our expert technicians. Ismaël is the first name on the list, and he can’t wait to show as many people as possible the benefits of investing in agroforestry, and how it can transform the future of Anjouan.
Photo: Ismaël in his field
Blogpost by Hugh Doulton (Technical Director, NGO Dahari, Anjouan, Comoros) – hugh.doulton(at)daharicomores.org
Photo credit: Dahari
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This post is entry nr #33 in our #WCA2014 blog competition. The five blogposts with the most and highest votes will receive a signed copy of the book "Trees for Life". The most popular blogpost will get an iPad.
This blogpost received 25 votes, with an average score of 5 (out of a max of 5).
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Tijju, a marginal farmer, resided at village Karari, in Jhansi district of Bundelkhand region in central India, used to cultivate only monsoon crops, was the target of an extension programme initiated by NRCAF (1993-94), Jhansi, and adopted agroforestry in 2.5 acres of land after obtaining training on management of fruit trees. Prior to the adoption of agroforestry technologies, he used to sell his annual field produce at a total amount of Rs.9,400. The annual net income obtained by the farmer in 5th year was Rs.21,715/ha. Tijju started obtaining fuel wood, fodder, fruit, small timber and food grains from the same piece of the land. Earlier his wife used to walk 2 to 3 kilometer in the search of fuel wood collection. His standard of living increased considerably. He was very much regular in attending the extension activities. Tijju got name and fame and became role model for other villagers. In his community Tijju was being referred to as rich man by villagers.
He was literate only and his family consisted of 14 members including his wife, three sons, three daughters in law, and six minors. He had no other source of livelihood. He adopted agri-horticultural system of agroforestry at his field and planted multipurpose tree species on field boundaries. He was provided training on management of fruit trees e.g. training and pruning, grafting/budding and after care of fruit trees and multi-purpose trees species. Fruit trees were planted in association with under storey agricultural crops, while multipurpose trees were planted on the field boundaries.
Agroforestry Adoption
No records were available with Tijju about the price obtained or the total amount realised through sales of field produce prior to 1993-94, because he did not keep any record of any kind, but from Tijju’s memory, it was found that, prior to the adoption of agroforestry technologies, he used to sell his annual field produce at a total amount of Rs.9,400.
After adoption of agroforestry, Tijju and his wife remained busy from morning till late in the night. Most of the work related to agroforestry practices were performed by Tijju and his wife. Their three sons provided part time help to their parent. They did hire tractor and contractual laborers for sowing, intercultural and harvesting of crops. Tijju and his wife remained fully involved in the management of tree component and marketing of produce throughout the year. The field produce was sold in local market, Jhansi, which is hardly 12 Km from the village. Annual training and pruning in fruit trees was done to give them desired shape. Ber trees were pruned every year in the month of May to encourage new growth during rainy season. Multi-purpose trees were also lopped every year as per requirement for fodder and fuel wood. Papaya was given with a view to earning income in initial years when other fruit trees are not giving any income. He also improved naturally existing Zizyphus numularia (locally known as Jharberi) in his field boundaries with improved variety of Zizyphus mauritiana namely Banarasi Karaka through ring budding. According to Tijju’s perception, there is a lot of improvement in soil conditions which might be due to increased organic matter resulting from decomposition of litter fall.
Increased Income & Living Standard
The total annual returns during fifth year was Rs.44,230 and the cost of cultivation for under storey crops as well as maintenance of fruit trees was Rs.22,515. Thus, the annual net income obtained by the farmer was Rs.21,715.00 per hectare. After five years of adoption of agroforestry, Tijju started obtaining fuel wood, fodder, fruit, small timber and food grains from the same peice of the land, while before 1993-94, his wife used to walk 2 to 3 kilometer in the search of fuel wood collection. His standard of living increased considerably. He got better food and clothing , constructed a cemented house of two rooms and cemented well, cemented irrigation channels and purchased a moped bike. Recovered himself from the loans took from Regional Rural Bank, Jhansi and from village land lord for daughter’s marriage, purchase of pump set for irrigation and for digging the well. Full time employment was provided to Tijju and his wife.
Name and fame
The social participation of Tijju and his family was drastically reduced as they did not get enough time for visiting any of their relatives. But he was very much regular in attending the extension activities such as Farmers’ fairs, Farmers’ conferences and Field days organized by various government and non-government organizations at different places in district and in neighboring district. He had been invited a number of times by many organizations to express his views about agroforestry. Tijju got name and fame as his name and photograph appeared as successful farmer many times in news bulletins, newsletters, news papers and reports etc. He had been recognized by the village people in all kinds of social functions organized in the village. So many people including farmers, farm women from different villages and VIPs from Central and State government departments visited his agroforestry field. After visiting the field, a number of farmers from the same village and adjacent villages adopted agroforestry practices at their fields. In his community Tijju was being referred to as rich man by villagers.
After Tijju
Yashoda (65) the wife of Tijju told that even after the death of her husband (Tijju) in 2013, she is totally dependent on agroforestry for her family’s livelihood. This type of extension efforts (Farmer-to-Farmer) are needed to make agroforestry system as an eco-friendly alternative for sustainable rural livelihood (food security) and for sustainable land management to uplift the small and marginal farmers and rural poor, so that they can join the main stream of the society.
Photo: Tijju and with his wife Yashoda became rich with agroforestry
Blogpost and photo by Dr.R.P.Dwivedi, Principal Scientist (Agricultural Extension)- National Research Centre for Agroforestry (Jhansi, India) – rpdwivedi43(at)gmail.com
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This post is entry nr #32 in our #WCA2014 blog competition. The five blogposts with the most and highest votes will receive a signed copy of the book "Trees for Life". The most popular blogpost will get an iPad.
This blogpost received 310 votes, with an average score of 5 (out of a max of 5).
Follow our #WCA2014 social reporting teamfollow our social reporting team via the #WCA2014 tag on Twitter, our blog and our Facebook page.
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I usually wonder, why these lands are barren, wherever I found, while traveling, as a Project engineer in Kirloskar. My thinking and passion brought me to Agroforestery.
My father, in 1970’s, planted mango, anticipating labour shortage. I had replaced with tamarind, in 1990’s, during my engineering holidays, since mango did not grow well. It survived, but there were not much fruits, unviable.
After working in companies, my heart and soul pulled me back to trees. From our experience of wrong selection of trees, this time I was to identify a right tree and right farming method. From childhood, I always thought why do they remove weeds, nature would have created with some purpose, now I strongly believe this. So, naturally I was attracted towards natural farming in an integrated way,
I looked around for right choice of trees for my degraded / laterite, sloppy, dry land with red soil, in our hot climate with rainfall of 750mm average. Maybe by telepathy, I got in touch with tree experts and books on more than 220 trees, made me understand various aspects of trees, in 2004.
Then, I had short listed and categorized trees on the basis of Fruit for short term income, Timber for long term, Fodder trees to take care for summer needs of livestock, Nitrogen fixing trees (NFT) for mulching / vermicompost, shrubs / medicinal plants as intercrop & lower layer and planned for sheep, cow, honeybee, rabbit farming.
In 2005, started with rainwater harvesting structures and planted above short listed tree species in my land, based on each field’s soil condition.
- Fruit Trees: Jack fruit, Jambul, Amla, Custard Apple, Amla
- Timber: Teak, Bamboo, Mahogany, Ailanthus, Pterocarpus Marsupium, Sisoo and Red Sanders (Pterocarpus santalinus)
- Multipurpose Trees: Gliricidia for fodder and mulching along with Drumstick, Subabul
- Biodiversity: Curry leaf, Pungamia, along with my region natural trees like Neem, Albizia lebback and many more
Some trees grew slowly, others did not. The local people mocked at me but that did not bother me. Field experience taught me much more. I reviewed.
Rain is decreasing, its pattern is changing & different for each region, temperature is increasing, frequency between rains is more, humidity & soil moisture is becoming less. I understood that, books and others knowledge are based on past scenario, when there was more rain & labour. Therefore, I needed to correlate.
Fruit trees and fast growing timber trees require good soil, rain and water that I did not have. Harvesting & selling small quantities of various fruits became difficult for me, being absent landlord. I re-planned. I had gone for RWH methods like in-situ, to cater 100mm rainfall (occasionally) in an hour of 20ft sloppy land.
To my astonishment, Red Sanders survived all these extremes. Although it grows slowly in initial 5 years then it grows well, it suited my land perfectly. It is a native tree of my region. Also, Gliricidia unexpectedly managed to grow and very useful during drought years as fodder. Amla, with lot of mulching with waste wood gives me returns to manage yearly routine expenses of my farm.
Understanding RedSanders took 4 years. Everybody goes to Tirupathi to pray, I went to understand Red Sanders and was very useful. Jack fruit, Jambul were replaced with Red Sanders in right season, based on rain pattern, soil humidity, temperature etc. Enhanced its growth, with mulching, in-situ RWH, protected from animals, anti-social elements and facilitated with natural animals droppings for manure. Now it is growing well, the same people appreciate my hard work and forecasting. Last year alone, they had planted 10000 saplings of Red sanders.
Red Sanders is a Valuable, Endangered, Dry land species, used as medicine for diabetics etc, musical instrument, natural food colour & dye, seems to be preventing atomic radiation in nuclear power plants. Hence, in international demanded.
Red Sanders are more economical than coconut, which requires lot of water, good soil, care etc. In 20-25 years, an acre of coconut will give 20,000 USD, (NPV), whereas Red Sanders will fetch 500,000 USD. It is an excellent foreign exchange earner, a Healthy Wealth from dry, degraded land without much water and energy.
I also planted many more tree species to serve its purposes, like to attract birds, improve humus, microclimate, attract bees etc and allowed many natural tree species in the land to make my farm a biodiversity, It is nothing but, simulation of forest. I planted variety of fruit trees for own needs (my family & my labour) to enjoy naturally grown, nutritious, local fruits of our region. Now we enjoy.
A peculiar identification is Ailanthus, grows well, in newly formed bunds, loose soil, which I understood from seeing its growth in mined dumping.
Gliricidia also managed to grow, used for mulching for weaker plants. Being multipurpose tree, our sheep got some green fodder in last drought summer. Sheep grazes only the grass, manures my tree plants, and keeps the weeds in control, cows not allowed; it damages tree saplings and soil compaction.
My engineering mind looks for 100 % utilization of light, land, time and nature. To achieve this, now, I focus on shade loving plants, like Aloe Vera. It grows in tree shade & humus, survives drought. It prevents spreading of fire, one of the issues caused by drunkards.
Perseverance pays!
8 years of struggle in my dry, degraded land without water, now it looks good even in summer. My forest, Brahmavanam, has more than 12000 trees, 100 tree varieties, all local shrubs, mostly medicinal, natural animals like Peacock, Fox, Rabbits, Iguana and birds are enjoying the environment, along with us.
Today, I have a sense of happiness and I feel that I have, contributed something to nature. It is a Good value addition along with nature’s process, without polluting (like dying / plastic units), without depleting nature’s source, like fossil fuel / coal & etc. Thanks for some awards & recognition, not for my satisfaction, but to spread the awareness of trees / agroforestry.
I strongly feel, Dry land agroforestry in India, has huge potential with large degraded barren lands with less rain, depleted groundwater, Industrialization, shortage of labour during peak season, small machineries not popular, idle land with migration of educated people and large size of unviable land for dry land cultivation shall be promoted for Agroforestry.
A Constant govt policy, “Grow any Tree and cut any Time and Export from Cultivated lands”, with simple procedures, will fetch billons of wealth in a healthy way and these kind of important valuable species will not become endangered.
We will overcome hurdles. Hope the new technologies, laws and consciousness will help us to interact, share and do great job to reinstate the beautiful nature.
My next project has started with my friend, in another 20 acres, with a little better soil and water.
Would like to be in touch will all Agro foresters in this world, thanks to WCA2014- gave a good start, I feel sorry for having missed the WCA2014.
We Breathe Trees!
Photo: The author in his Brahmavanam forest
Blogpost and photo by Ganesan RP (Brahmavanam, Tamilnadu, India) – ganesanrp(at)gmail.com
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This post is entry nr #31 in our #WCA2014 blog competition. The five blogposts with the most and highest votes will receive a signed copy of the book "Trees for Life". The most popular blogpost will get an iPad.
This blogpost received 16 votes, with an average score of 4.5 (out of a max of 5).
Follow our #WCA2014 social reporting teamfollow our social reporting team via the #WCA2014 tag on Twitter, our blog and our Facebook page.
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MEDIA ADVISORY
Trees for Life, the World Congress on Agroforestry 2014, 10-14 February 2014, Delhi, India
Global conference will accelerate the use of trees in agriculture and in the landscape to meet the needs of a burgeoning world population
29 January 2014. In India, 65 percent of the country’s timber and almost half of its fuel wood is sourced from trees on farms and outside forests. In Mali, farmers are increasing their maize yields by up to 400 percent when they grow their crops under nitrogen-fixing trees. In Peru farmers are almost doubling the carbon stocks in their cocoa gardens by planting trees. In Vietnam communities are protecting themselves from the effects of climate change with trees.
These and many other success stories will be discussed in the World Congress on Agroforestry to be held in Delhi, India on 10-14 February 2014. The Congress, entitled ‘Trees for Life’, will see over a 1000 participants drawn from the private sector, research and development sharing the current state of knowledge on the positive financial, environmental and social impacts of agroforestry.
Agroforestry is the practice of growing useful trees on farms and in the landscape.
The Indian Council of Agricultural Research and World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), together with the Indian Society of Agroforestry, are organizing the Congress, aimed at accelerating the contribution that trees can make to world development.
An agricultural revolution is needed to meet the demands for tomorrow’s food. As much food needs to be grown in the next 40 years as has been produced in the past 8000 years. The demand for natural products such as timber, plant-based medicines and fodder is also burgeoning. To stand any hope of meeting these demands, global agriculture needs to be drastically modified, especially by incorporating useful trees into farms and the landscape.
Shri Pranab Mukherjee, the President of India, will give the inaugural address, backed up by several ministers from his government. The world-renown scientist M.S. Swaminathan will give a keynote address on the contributions that agroforestry is making to development, especially in India, and breakout sessions will discuss agroforestry systems, income and environmental benefits, climate change, livestock and fish systems
Offering a unique opportunity for the business and development communities to interact, the Congress will be built around a structure dealing with science and innovation; food and nutrition; environmental protection; enterprise; knowledge and policy environment; and climate change.
Howard Shapiro, the Chief Agronomist at Mars Incorporated, will lead a discussion on the science that underpins the business of agroforestry, with contributions from, among others, the Chief Executive Officer of PepsiCo Inc. Key scientists and development experts from around the world will discuss ways to apply the latest scientific innovations to bring benefits to farmers on the ground.
Dennis Garrity, a Drylands Ambassador for the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, will chair a panel discussing the integration of science, business and the Sustainable Development Goals, aided by a panel of senior business leaders such as Harish Bhat, the CEO of Tata Global Beverages.
“Trees play a crucial role in almost all the Earth’s ecosystems and benefits rural and urban people,” said Tony Simons, the Director General of the World Agroforestry Centre. “Landscapes without trees can quickly erode into barren, unproductive expanses. As well as bringing many environmental benefits, adding trees to agriculture can be highly profitable. This Congress will produce a roadmap for the future of agroforestry.”
Follow the Congress via #WCA2014 on Twitter, on Facebook and on our blog.
Media briefing
A media briefing is being scheduled for 11am on Tuesday 11th February with speakers from the opening plenary session including Howard Shapiro and other key business leaders. To attend this briefing and be part of the accredited media for the event please contact Daniel Kapsoot (d.kapsoot(at)cgiar.org).
The World Congress on Agroforestry will be co-organized by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (www.icar.org.in), the World Agroforestry Centre (www.worldagroforestry.org), which is a member of the CGIAR Consortium, the Indian Society of Agroforestry (www.nrcaf.ernet.in/isaf.html) and Global Initiatives (www.globalinitiatives.com).
For further details, see www.wca2014.org or email wca2014(at)CGIAR.org
Avocado fruit tree
According to the United Nations Populations Fund, the world is experiencing the largest wave of urban growth in recorded history. And as the population of cities swells to five billion by 2030 as projected by the UN agency, food and nutritional security is emerging as one of the biggest challenges in urban areas.
At the forthcoming World Congress on Agroforestry 2014, Eefke Mollee and co-researchers from Bangor University will discuss agroforestry in Kampala city, and how a focus on farming fruit trees in peri-urban and urban areas can help tackle major issues such as urban poverty and malnutrition.
In their study, the scientists say poor urban households often maintain close links with their previous rural (agricultural- and forestry-based) backgrounds. This means that forests and agroforestry systems in and around cities can provide urban areas with traditional forest products, providing employment and food security.
According to UN drylands ambassador Dennis Garitty, the demand for high value tree products in cities can also promote the expansion of agroforestry in urban areas.
“The growth of cities around the world has increased the market demand for fruit, timber and a host of other tree products, a force that is slowly transforming areas around cities into agroforests,” said Garrity in a recorded interview.
Mollee and co-researchers say urban forests and forestry systems are largely ignored in forestry debates, and little research has been done on their contribution to household nutrition.
“It is a missed opportunity, since the cultivation of nutrient-rich fruit trees could form important opportunities for growing urban populations,” they say in their Congress abstract titled ‘Linking urban agroforestry and nutrition: a case study from Kampala, Uganda.’
“With the limited space available in peri-urban and urban areas, fruit trees epitomize the concept of ‘vertical production,” they add.
Further reading:
See http://www.worldagroforestry.org/africa-food for links and more stories
By Isaiah Esipisu
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Edited by D. Ouya
A farmer intercrops Gliricidia with maize. In Malawi this has been shown to improve water filtration and water use efficiency. Photo: World Agroforestry Centre
A viable option to avoid over dependence on fertilizers and pesticides in closing the yield gap in Africa is to ensure agricultural intensification occurs through natural and resource-conserving approaches such as agroforestry, say scientists in a special issue of Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability due to be released in February 2014 to coincide with the 3rd World Congress on Agroforestry in Delhi, India.
Intensification – growing more on the same amount of land – is seen as key to increasing food production in Africa to meet the needs of a growing population. In many parts of Asia, this has been achieved through the use of greater inputs such as fertilizer, but it has come at a cost – causing soil degradation, loss of biodiversity and pollution which has impacted on food security and farm incomes.
“A long-term solution to intensification in Africa should not purely be based on an imported intensification model but instead consider approaches that can maintain the quality of the available resource base through ensuring nutrient cycling, organic matter build-up, biodiversity improvements and water quality regulation,” says Sammy Carsan, Tree Domestication Scientist with the World Agroforestry Centre and lead author of the article. “All this can be achieved through agroforestry.”
Click here for full article.
Nearly every rural homestead in western Kenya has some fruit trees. And even though they pay very little attention to these trees, the villagers here know the trees are crucial cushions against hunger.
“In all the years I have lived here, I have never seen anyone planting a guava tree. Yet guavas come in very handy during times of starvation,” said 50-year-old Robert Amianda, a small-scale farmer in Essong’olo village. “The trees usually have mature fruits when there is nothing else on the farm; during such times, my children have these fruits for lunch and then go back to school.”
Boy eating the fruit of East African doum palm tree, Hyphaene compressa, in Lodwar, Turkana, Kenya. The fruits mature during droughts. Photo by Isaiah Esipisu
The results of a study to be presented at the World Congress on Agroforestry show that indigenous and exotic fruit tree species in agroforestry systems can bring significant health, environmental and economic benefits for smallholder farmers, particularly in the face of climate change.
The study, led by Katja Kehlenbeck and colleagues from the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), found that in the drylands of sub-Saharan Africa, various trees provide edible fruits of great local importance for food security and nutrition, particularly during droughts and the ‘hunger gap’ periods that occur at the beginning of the cropping season, when the previous season’s harvest has been exhausted.
In Adjumani district in Uganda, nearly half the respondents reported using the fruit pulp of the desert date, Balanites aegyptiaca. They said over 80 percent of the fruits were harvested from the wild, mainly by children and women. In eastern Kenya, 104 respondents reported consuming fruits of 57 indigenous fruit tree species; 36 species found on-farm and 21 in the wild. During the ‘hunger gap’ periods, at least 12 of the indigenous fruit tree species had mature fruits.
In other regions, farmers are growing improved varieties of fruit trees for income. Kehlenbeck and colleagues report that in semi-arid eastern Kenya, mango farming generated 320 USD per household per year from 77 mango trees on average.
“Mangoes, oranges and papaya fruits are now my main source of livelihood,” said Judith Mwikali Musau, a member of Mbiuni Farmers Association in Makueni, eastern Kenya, corroborating these findings.
In the Miombo area of Southern Africa, on-going participatory domestication of wild loquat (Uapaca kirkiana), wild orange (Strychnos cocculoides) and marula (Sclerocarya birrea) seeks to develop new tree crops to capture economic opportunities, while at the same time reducing the dependence on and and exploitation of forest trees.
The researchers say similar domestication efforts are underway in the West African Sahel, for baobab (Adansonia digitata), tamarind Tamarindus indica and jujube/ber fruit (Ziziphus mauritiana).
Further reading
See Agroforestry Species Switchboard for information on these and many more species.
See http://www.worldagroforestry.org/africa-food for links and more stories
Related stories:
The little-understood indigenous African fruit trees: http://bit.ly/14jrdQS
On the forest’s margins: bringing the benefits of trees from the wild into the farm
A bit of baobab a day keeps the doctor away: wild fruits help solve Africa’s malnutrition crisis
By Isaiah Esipisu
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Edited by D. Ouya
I grew up in a sleepy hamlet of Almora nestled in the lush green hills of middle Himalayas. During my formative years I experienced the beauty of forests in all its shades. Experiencing this I assumed that the state of the forest will be the same everywhere because very often what you see is what you believe. However, I was in for a surprise.
During my teens itself I decided to plunge myself in the field of forestry that both motivated and fascinated me. But to my surprise during the course of my higher education I came across many forest areas which were degraded and had blank undertorey patches infested with exotic weeds, further deteriorating the forest health.
Most of the rural population in the state of Uttarakhand is directly dependent on the forest resources for meeting their day to day basic demands of food, fodder, fuelwood and also herbs of medicinal and aromatic value. But due to the degradation of the natural habitats and overexploitation of medicinal plants there is an urgent need for their conservation.
This got me thinking as to how these seemingly unrelated problems of degraded forests, livelihood dependence of forest dependent communities and conservation of exploited medicinal herbs can yield a single solution. I realised agroforestry was the only option.
Interestingly during Doctoral research I chose the task of improving the productivity of Chir pine (Pinus roxburghii) forest. The situation as it exists today is that the Chir pine forests have very less or no understorey growth. They remain full of needle cover with meagre or no understorey vegetation. The pine needles accumulated on the forest floor are a means of fire hazard.
Keeping in view the dependency for livelihood on the community forests especially Chir pine, it was a challenge to increase the producivity so that some short term economic returns could be achieved for the local forest dependent communities of the Panchayati forests. So, I thought of increasing the productivity of such land by introducing native grasses, medicinal and aromatic herbs that need conservation. The Van Panchayats represent one of the largest and most diverse experiments in common property management ever developed in collaboration with the State. Interestingly, Van Panchayats in India’s hilly state of Uttarakhand present one of the earliest examples anywhere in the world, where government and local people come together for the management of natural resources.
Project study
The project endeavoured to use the underutilized or unutilized land of Chir pine forests by associating seven of the naturally growing medicinal and aromatic herbs to improve the productivity of these forests. The concept of minimum tillage and appropriate topographical aspect was adopted to introduce native grasses and medicinal herbs in the understorey of degraded forests. The former aimed at minimizing disturbance to the forest floor and the latter to suit the appropriate microclimate of the particular herb.
Seven herbs namely Lemon grass (Cymbopogon flexuous), Sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum), Akarkara (Spilanthes acmella), Kaunch (Mucuna pruriens), Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera), Kantkari (Solanum khasianum) and Kalmegh (Andrographis paniculata) were selected having reviewed their natural habitats and growth conditions. The trial was conducted for two consecutive years and to everyone’s surpise out of seven medicinal plants four medicinal plants namely Akarkara, Kaunch, Kantkari and Kalmegh were found to be economically viable due to better yield and healthy financial returns. Spilanthes acmella, Mucuna pruriens and Solanum khasianum produced maximum yield when grown on northern aspect with net returns of Rs. 34,639, 15,567 and 2879 respectively per hectare in a growing season of four to six months depending on the species. While Andrographis paniculata gave highest yield with net returns of Rs. 5833 per hectare when grown on western aspect. Thus a Chir pine based innovative Silvi-medicinal system was introduced in the Indian Himalayan Region.
Future prospect
The outcome of the research has the potential to utilize the understorey of Chir pine forests, which occupy 3943 km2 area in Uttarakhand (16.15% of the total forest area) and other Himalayan states. It can also generate a source of income for the poor forest dwellers besides the intangible benefits like soil, water and biodiversity conservation of the area.
The implementation of the project will result in livelihood security of forest dependent community, first in terms of employment dealing with all the operation from planting to the collection of minor forest produce and secondly in the sale of the sustainable harvest of these produce. The impact of the project will involve the reduced pressure upon the natural forests, from where unscientific extraction and exploitation of such medicinal plants are continued. Besides, the frequent fire hazards in Chir pine forest can be minimized due to the decomposition and non accumulation of the pine needles in the forest floor.
Policy issues
Agroforestry has always been accepted as a land use system applicable both in farm as well as forest. In mountainous states most of the land is covered with forest, including government reserve forest, civil and soyam forest or panchyati, community or private lands. There is a need of utilizing the unutilized understorey land and degraded and blank patches of these forests, which generally remain infested with exotic weeds throughout the year leading to the underutilization of land resources.
So there is a scope for amending the policies so that agroforestry potential can be harnessed by planting native grasses, medicinal herbs, shrubs and wild fruit crops in the understorey patches of these forests with minimum disturbance to these degraded forest lands. There is also a need for a country wide review of all laws and procedures constraining agroforestry especially in the community and private forest out side the reserve forests.
I have the strong conviction that if this experiment could be carried out so successfully under such a tough terrain like a Chir pine forest then it holds promise to be replicated in the other forest lands as successful model of agroforestry.
Photo: Productivity enhancement through agroforestry in the Chir pine forest
Blogpost and photo by Dr. Chandra Shekhar Sanwal, Indian Forest Service, DCF Uttarakhand cadre (Dehradun, India) – chandra.sanwal(at)gmail.com
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This post is entry nr #30 in our #WCA2014 blog competition. The five blogposts with the most and highest votes will receive a signed copy of the book "Trees for Life". The most popular blogpost will get an iPad.
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If you see a shadow slip into the forest of Kribi, there are many possibilities that it is one of them…
They weigh 1.50m on average, they often walk on bare feet in spite of the sandals offered to the children by the tourists.Great looking, the body covered with fabrics or dirty clothes. They do not it like but they have many resources. Contacts with our society taught them to dress but that is not always the case.
In spite of their neglected appearance,the Pygmies are little men with good health. Their physical shortness enables them to move with a certain agility in the wood where they have always lived and loved. Nobody knows the forest as well as they do. Its opportunities, dangers, and weaknesses. The forest is their home. She provides them food,cures and shelters them.
Traditional huts is made up of tree branches and palm tree leaves. Inside their home there is just one wooden bed. Sometimes, they sleep on top of leaves and branches on the floor. Five to six people on average spend the night in the same hut close to the fire place. The Pygmies live in groups and have a chief. It is difficult to give his exact age ,60, maybe more. He claims to be well, to those who doubt,ask his three wives to confirm. Although, they are not farmers, they live primarily off hunting and forest products they gather during the day. Pygmy treatment has earned a great reputation across the country but don’t ask much concerning names of plants and barks of trees used for healing, they will not say a word.
A secret well kept
People go to the Pygmy for three reasons: adventure,success in their career and businesses and most especially for medical assistance. Be ready to make an hour’s drive with a motorcycle, on a dusty road except you have a personal car and another 45 minutes of canoe crossing and a short walk to benefit from this traditional medicine. It is admitted to many that where hospitals fail to solve their problems they go and check the traditional way.
The Pygmy represent in this geographic area an alternative to find health by using nature. Treatment they offer are made from concoctions or balms according to the complexity of the disease for which it is required. It is often expected that one waits for some days to be ready because most of the extracts have to be newly fetched from the forest. During this travel, I had wished to experience what I had heard so many times about them. By this time I had been suffering from a toothache for several weeks, after a brief consultation with them, two days later my cure and posology were ready. A mysterious bitter taste used as mouthwash for one week. In exchange, according to them, I gave the intermediary who was acting as a translator an equivalence of ten dollars to purchase salt and fabrics. It was painful but it passed.My teeth has never been so white. One month after, my pain was back reasons why I went to a dentist and decided to fill the teeth to avoid a relapse.
To change behaviors, people need to be informed
Actually it is not because the effects were not permanent that I don’t think it can be a good stuff.If not how could we explain their longevity in the forest, cut off without hospital,electricity and modern technology. In their environment, Pygmies are facing many set backs. They are vulnerable,helpless and illiterate this is why they have been exploited for several years. The Pygmies must be preserved as well as their habitat and traditions.
The Cameroon Government and private actors help to make them be considered as native people with a unique status, needing protection for themselves and their forest but much better can be done with sensibilization. I visited them four month ago and I really enjoyed it. Why don’t you check it out?
Photo: Pygmy chief in Kribi
Blogpost and photo by Rose Elsie Picarine – NGO Hongla (Yaounde, Cameroon) – elsie_hongla(at)yahoo.fr
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This post is entry nr #29 in our #WCA2014 blog competition. The five blogposts with the most and highest votes will receive a signed copy of the book “Trees for Life”. The most popular blogpost will get an iPad.
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My name is Shea. I am a majestic tree born in savanna. My first fruit comes up after 15 years of life and I can breathe for centuries. You understand now why in the “Dioula” language spoken in Burkina Faso, ‘shea’ means “long life”.
I am always associated with crops and other trees in fields; and my privileged partners are women and children. During the raining season, they faithfully visit me and in turn I gratefully share with them the best of what I have to offer; my treasured children. I am support their ivelihoods; hence, my nickname: “women’s green gold”.
Traditionally, women process my fruit to extract nuts and produce a smooth butter for their consumption and marketing. My other parts such as my bark and leaves are mainly used by men and women as medicine, fertilizer for agriculture and also as a fetish to protect themselves from evil creatures.
I told you that women are my favourite partners. I am sometimes embarrassed because, they are not a homogeneous group: some are natives, some migrants, with age and ethnic differences. Access to my fruits is regulated according to these social differences. For that, increasingly, people are using fetishes and black magic such as thunderbolts, to prevent my fruit from being collected by thieves. You will understand later how this constraining tenure system evolved and how it affects myself, from a migrant family.
In a recent period, I saw several “White men” in our village explaining to local people that my reputation surpassed all the frontiers. They wanted to buy a big quantity of my nuts so that their people could also enjoy my bounty. At first sight I found their “Fair Trade” proposition good: my friends would gain more money and I would take care of more people around the world. I was far from suspecting that this would be a threat to me as my regeneration would decrease when people collected all my seeds from parklands.
What is worse, in 1996 I heard the groans of several women as the state had modified the land tenure law in the name of food security by encouraging “agri-businessmen” to easily buy large plots of land in villages. Then, natives started to sell their land, including those previously lent to migrants. My own field was sold by the lender without any advanced notice.
You will tell me that I should not be afraid, but that sale will decrease the chance of survival of my young sisters who are already suffering from the effects of climate change and from the greater use of sophisticated tractors that damage our roots. I run also the risk of being replaced by cash crops.
Beyond the environmental issues, it is also a matter of social justice. My former family had invested blood and sweat into this field for 20 years. They protected and conserved more than 30 young shea trees and only last year did they start harvesting their fruits. The most difficult thing is that the new owner has formally forbidden the women from my former family to collect shea fruits on his new property. He has told them that he is running a livestock farming business and that for he will need the shea fruits to feed his livestock.
I am still hopeful because I am confident that my human community has learned a lot about my phenology and has sufficient skills to manage me in these climates, and amid the current social and economical changes taking place. Indeed, with the National Institute for Agricultural and Environmental Research (INERA), they have conducted participatory research to learn about my ethno-varieties, and considered how knowledge of and preferences for ethno varieties can vary according to a person’s gender, status of residence, age, and ethnic group.
I really enjoyed the moments when the women and men in my community shared the results of these research activities under my shade. They were a bit tired, but enthusiastic about the participatory tools they have learned and the gender-specific results it had generated. The village chief and some elders were already waiting under my canopy when a woman from the community presented the results of women’s group work and a man those of the men’s group.
My women presented more detailed information than men because, as everyone knows, women have a very close relationship with the species therefore hold a specialized knowledge because of their gender, which attributes to them many shea-related activities. Men recognized that even they occasionally help their wives in the collection of shea nuts and the nut selling process.
The different uses women and men make of the shea tree came out clearly when they carried out a participatory matrix ranking exercise for shea ethno varieties. Women privileged the shea tree for its butter while men favoured it for its fruit’s pulp for direct consumption. Still, the men warmly thanked the INERA researchers for taking them into account for once in discussions relative to the “star of the day”: me.
Children also were included in the discussions. They demonstrated that beyond their social roles as mothers’ helpers, they too collect and sell shea nuts themselves to purchase clothes for ceremonies and candies for school.
In addition, the most of the identified ethno varieties of shea—and especially those preferred by women and men–are found in fields. Indeed, because of the threats of wild fire and trampling by livestock, shea fruit found in fallows and brush areas are small and shea yields have considerably decreased
As I am getting old, my fruit yield is also going down. How can my country’s food security needs and forestry requirements work in the same direction to allow agroforestry to support the livelihoods of our communities?
Working with local women and men farmers who are our caretakers, researchers should conduct more gender responsive investigations to allow our representatives to build on and elaborate more inclusive land tenure laws and efficient politics to perpetuate me.
The project “Threats to priority food tree species in Burkina Faso: Drivers of resource losses and mitigation measures” is part of the Bioversity’s Gender Research Fellowship Program funded by the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry.
Photo: Women under a shea tree in Yarci, Burkina Faso
Blogpost and photo by Mawa Karambiri, Gender Fellow hosted by INERA (Burkina Faso) – Karambirimawa(at)yahoo.fr
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This post is entry nr #28 in our #WCA2014 blog competition. The five blogposts with the most and highest votes will receive a signed copy of the book "Trees for Life". The most popular blogpost will get an iPad.
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Today about 870 million people go hungry, every day around the world and the projections shows that the population would cross nine billion populations by 2050. For this burgeoning population, we need to produce enough affordable, quality food having rich energy and nutrition. When compared to all the interventions to meet the food and nutritional security, the horticulture sector especially the fruits having enormous possibility. The fruits with all the available minerals and vitamins are the potential candidates for achieving nutritional security. Therefore, sensitization of farmers about the potential benefits of the fruit trees is very much essential and also they need to be encouraged to practice fruit tree based system. If the research community develops suitable technologies, then the fruit trees can grow in almost all the farming systems.
There are many underutilized fruit trees in almost all the regions that can be grown under various abiotic stress conditions, if they are also introduced and some policy interventions like creation of marketing facilities and investment opportunities are made, there would be definitely diversification in the farms and we can be sure that there would be nutrient rich fruits available all round the year to the community from their farms. With the greater availability of the nutrient fruits all year round on the farm, new developments in the value chains and the good quantity of quality fruits and their products could be ensured across the domestic markets which would in turn ensure nutritional security of women and children.
In India, a UNEP/GEF Project on ‘Tropical Fruit Tree Diversity in India’ is being implemented at five sites with the 18 communities and is documenting the best practices and the identification of the available diversity with the farmers in mango, citrus and mangosteen. It is always mentioned that the we need to identify the agricultural pathways which improves the nutrition of women and children in the society. The marketing diversity research program at the Biodiversity International is also working for the development of ways to increase the livelihoods and marketing underused crop diversity, which have no market or value chain.
At the World Agroforestry Congress, I am expecting that from the deliberations on securing nutritional security through fruit tree based Agroforestry systems, I can learn about the feasibility of on-farm diversification with the fruit trees, interventions need to be made for increasing the availability of local fruits in domestic markets, understanding value chain, reduction in the post harvest losses.
I hope that during the congress, there would be more interactions, deliberations, opportunity to build teams which would definitely develop and formulate collaborative programs on agricultural biodiversity and conservation of fruit trees.
Photo: Nelson Mkwaila, a farmer in Malawi, uses fruit trees in his maize fields (The Agroforestry Food Security Programme in Malawi, supported by Irish Aid)
Blogpost by Sridhar Gutam, Senior Scientist, Central Institute for Subtropical Horticulture (Lucknow, India) – gutam2000(at)gmail.com
Photo by Charlie Pye-Smith (World Agroforestry Centre)
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This post is entry nr #27 in our #WCA2014 blog competition. The five blogposts with the most and highest votes will receive a signed copy of the book "Trees for Life". The most popular blogpost will get an iPad.
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The deliberate growth of woody perennials on the same unit of land along with agricultural crops and animals either in some form of spatial mixture and in some temporal sequence with a significant ecological interaction is called agroforestry.
There is a considerable amount of resource sharing by the components in this system. This result in complementary or competitive effects depending upon the nature of the species involved in the system. The quality and quantity of light available to the understorey crops is of extreme importance for the sustenance of the system because opportunities for substantial temporal complementarities exist for storable resources like water and nutrients in a system if major resources demand is at different times.
On the other hand for un-storable resources like light spatial complementarities is the only phenomenon available. Annual food grain crops have been domesticated by man for traits favourable for high production in addition to resistance to abiotic and biotic stresses. Physiological basis of Low light stress and selection of food grain crops that are tolerant to low light stress has been largely neglected by researchers because low light stress is not actually an abiotic stress which human kind was interested in since the problem of light stress is evident only in the high latitudes in winter wherein sunlight is premium. The only use of low light tolerant food grain crops in the tropics is related to Agroforestry.
On the other hand tropical regions like ours have no reason to naturally select low light tolerant crops. Consequently there is a possibility that the genetic makeup conferring low light tolerance and ensuing physiological response would have been lost in the processes of evolution.
This highlights and necessitates the need for an elucidative approach to the physiological basis of low light stress in terms of gene expression, metabolic alternations and photochemistry as either an effect of stress or as a mechanism to counter stress, which will help in selecting suitable crops for optimal yields in Agroforestry systems.
Physiological function analysis of environment – plant interaction has currently entered the high through put era with the advent of DNA micro array method. However, despite widespread acceptance, the use of micro arrays as a tool to better understand processes of interest to the plant physiologist is still in its infancy. This project will make use of this approach in addition to conventional methods to achieve the objectives.
Low light stress in crops will induce physiological, metabolic and photochemical alternations as a response to stress or as a mechanism to counter stress. 2. Changes in expression of several genes will be the primary cause for these responses
The overall objective will be to, to elucidate the physiological, biochemical and molecular basis of low light stress response in selected (barley, wheat, rice and soybean) crops and the specific objectives will be, to study the chlorophyll (Chl) fluorescence kinetics and chlorophyll metabolism as influenced by low light, to study the genome wide expression patterns as influenced by low light stress by DNA micro array method and to determine the path of signal transmission that activate adaptive responses from gene to physiological function as an effect of low light stress.
In essence the project will have a molecule to ecosystem approach and will consist of three separate experiments:
1.Completely controlled (different light intensity in terms of photosynthetic photon flux density) growth chamber hydroponic experiment for metabolic and molecular analysis,
2. Simulated net house (three shade percentages) studies of complete life cycle of crops for physiological analysis,
3. Natural field ecosystem studies (existing Agroforestry systems at the Centre) for ecophysiology, biometrics, growth and yield.
This project will make use of DNA Microarray approach (comprehensive, simultaneous gene expression profiling refer fig above) to achieve the objectives in Exp 1. Prefabricated whole genome micro array for the crops will be obtained from Affymetrix as Gene Chip ®.
Data obtained will be subjected to several standard statistical techniques to help interpret micro array data, including hierarchical clustering, principal component analysis (PCA) and self-organizing maps (SOM). In addition enzymes and metabolites of chlorophyll biosynthesis, antioxidative metabolism and pigment compositions will be estimated.
In exp.2 (full life cycle three stages) Chlorophyll content and florescence Chl a, Chl b, Total Chl and ratios thereof and F0, Fv, Fv/Fm, Quantum yield and electron transport rate and photosynthetic rate will be estimated by using chlorophyll fluorescence meter. In addition growth and yield on per plant basis will be analyzed. In exp3 (natural ecosystem) wherein natural shade (no treatment will be imposed) effect on crop growth, gas exchange, biometrics, yield and yield components will be estimated in addition to basic florescence data. Relevant statistical procedures will be followed for each experiment for data analysis.
The expected outcome of this approach will be – Genome-wide expression patterns of the selected crops as affected by low light stress, basic insight into the functional physiological basis of the molecular mechanisms co-ordinating metabolic pathways, regulatory and signalling networks under low light stress. Pinpointed pathway loci for conventional genetics and molecular plant breeders to manipulate and develop tolerant varieties/transgenic plants with enhanced tolerance to lowlight stress.
Discovery of novel genes associated with light stress, knowledge on the method of adaptation and mechanism of toleration of plants to low light intensity from photon capture to CO2 fixation and dry matter accumulation. Shade tolerant crop (among the crops studied) most suitable for maximum yield under Agroforestry systems, light incidence–crop response relationship which can serve as a suitability index for selection of crops for Agroforestry systems.
Blogpost and illustration by Dr. Arun K.Shanker, Principal Scientist (Plant Physiology)
Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture (CRIDA), Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR),
(Santoshnagar, Saidabad P.O, Hyderabad) – arunshank(at)gmail.com
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This post is entry nr #26 in our #WCA2014 blog competition. The five blogposts with the most and highest votes will receive a signed copy of the book "Trees for Life". The most popular blogpost will get an iPad.
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Eucalyptus trees can be used to clear waste water
In a report titled ‘Sick Water? the central role of wastewater management in sustainable development,’ the UN points out that a staggering 80 to 90 percent of all wastewater generated in developing countries is discharged directly into surface-water bodies, where it poses hazards to human health and the environment.
But researchers say there is a way out, using trees. Dr Paramjit Singh Minhas, director of the National Institute of Abiotic Stress Management and co-authors will present a paper at the World Congress on Agroforestry titled ‘Potential of tree plantations for wastewater disposal: Long term use in Eucalyptus.’ The researchers argue that trees with high transpiration rate (‘thirsty’ trees) such as eucalyptus can be easily used to clean the environment of wastewater. The trees grown in wastewater will also produce fuelwood and timber for income generation, and as well sequester carbon from the atmosphere. Eucalyptus have long been blamed for their ‘thirst’ for ground water, owing to their long tap roots, and there is scientific evidence that the species could dry up water bodies.
For instance, a recent study titled ‘Local knowledge of the impacts of eucalyptus expansion on water security in the Ethiopian highlands’ found increased water stress from unplanned eucalyptus expansion, among other factors. But these tall trees native to Australia are arguably among the most commercially viable species. They grow fast, quickly amassing biomass that is important for fuelwood production, timber and carbon banking. Minhas and colleagues point out that when grown using wastewater, eucalyptus plantations can remove toxic metals, since the trees are known to sequester, tolerate and accumulate high levels of various heavy metals.
According to the scientists, developing ‘green belts’ around cities with forest trees under wastewater irrigation will also help revive the ecological balance and improve the environment. The researchers term these agroforestry systems ‘High Transpiration Rate Systems (HRTS)’ for the treatment of wastewater. “Adoption of agro-forestry systems further reduce the farmer’s direct contact with and exposure to sewage, and carbon sequestration is an additional bonus,” say the researchers.
By Isaiah Esipisu
Forests provide a lot of diverse benefits to societies. Besides the fact that wood processing and forest products provide significant contributions to the development of national economies, forests play a major role in maintaining the natural ecological balance. They contribute to creating a microclimate that reduces the effects of environmentally harmful factors. The importance of forests is evident for a further stabilization of groundwater and maintenance of water resources, for the balance of carbon dioxide, nitrogen and phosphorus in the atmosphere, and for the provision of fresh oxygen.
The capacity of Moldova’s forests to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is about 2,230,000 tons per year. Forests substantially contribute to reducing soil erosion and landslides. The protective role of the forests is of vital importance for Moldova because of substantial alternating temperatures that occur, frequent droughts and shortage of water, lands ‘propensity to slides and a decrease in soil fertility up to 40-50% due to the erosion processes. The multitude of benefits conditioned by forests is inexhaustible.
Unfortunately, Republic of Moldova has the lowest percentage of forest area in Europe- 11.4 % (374,500 ha).
The problem of the protection and sustainable development of forests is inseparable from the problem of country’s public health. The forest policy should be focused on the conservation of biodiversity at all levels, on education of forestry specialists, on harmonizing the legal framework, and on international cooperation in the field.
The forestation of the above mentioned land area is a part of the Social-Economic Development Strategy of Vorniceni village for the following 20 years.
The whole community of more than 5,000 citizens may be involved in the project implementation activities.
The forestation of an area of 2.65 hectares will constitute our response to the Global Warming phenomenon.
The arrangement of the square will become a model of ecological education for the population. The students from the local high-school situated in the neighborhood of the land plot will be able to have different types of outdoor lessons in the square.
The square will be a place where people will rest and spend their leisure time.
Goal. The forestation of the 2.65 ha area is to begin in 2014-2015.
Objectives:
1. Preparation of the village citizenry, over 5,000 people, to make decisions related to environmental problems by involving them in volunteer activities such as the installation of a metallic fence surrounding the square as well as setting up an information panel, dustbins, benches, sidewalks and lamps throughout the plot;
2. Providing knowledge about Vorniceni village by distributing the “Adevarul” publication (“The Truth”);
3. Posting short videos on YouTube; and
4. Holding international conferences with Romanian and Ukrainian partners to promote similar activities.
First, partners such as representatives from the Ministry of Environment of the Republic of Moldova, Academy of Science of Republic of Moldova, Institute of Forest Researches and Arrangements, and State Ecological Inspection will be invited. Secondly, an authorization for the arrangement work will be obtained from the Environmental Commission of Experts that will permit the work consistent with existing legal requirements.
Further, a metallic fence will be built without which the arrangement of the square would be impossible as some people use the plot as grazing grounds for their animals or even for passing through with cars and other transportation. At the same time, an information board will be installed to provide knowledge about donors, organizations and volunteers that will participate in the forestation and arrangement work. The entire effort will be coordinated with experts in forestry on national and international levels.
The distribution of “Adevarul” publication will provide knowledge about all the activities for the square arrangement. A partnership will be established with local public administration, ‘Secolul 21″(“The 21’st Century”) NGO-s, the Alliance of Moldovan Rural NGO-s and other nonprofit organizations.
Short films will be prepared and posted on YouTube that will ensure the transparency of the project. The members of the National Network of Volunteer Centers formed by “Terra 1530″ will play the main roles. Before the beginning of the forestation work , set to begin in November 2013, all the necessary recommendations will be obtained from all our international experts included in the list of “Terra 1530″ Association along with the representatives of the Academy of Science of the Republic of Moldova.
Our partners from Ukraine and Romania will be invited to an international conference in order to discuss and analyze the results of our activity and an international exchange of volunteers will be initiated.
1. The Decision of the Village Council to plant trees on the respective public plot was taken due to the mutual initiative of the local civil society and the “Terra 1530″NGO. From the very start more partners were committed to finding a solution for a community problem of global importance. It is an opportunity for more than 5000 inhabitants of Vorniceni village to participate in the project implementation particularly those working abroad that may contribute financially.
2. There are more and more discussions about ecological education in Moldova today but there is a stringent lack of a real model. The respective square, arranged in Vorniceni with the participation of international experts, may become such a model. It may become a best practice for local public administration, because it is for the first time in the history of the village when all the people will have the opportunity to be involved in an activity.
3. As the village high-school is located in the neighborhood of the plot it will make possible to have outdoor lessons in the square, especially biology and other outdoor activities.
4. Short videos will be posted on YouTube for the purpose of showing the activities that will take place in the square.
5. The continuity of the project is guaranteed because according to our experts at least 5-8 years are necessary for the completion of the square arrangement work.
Photo: Volunteers at work in Moldova
Blogpost and photo by Petru Botnaru – environmental journalist (Străşeni, Moldova) – petru.botnaru(at)terra1530.md
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This post is entry nr #25 in our #WCA2014 blog competition. The five blogposts with the most and highest votes will receive a signed copy of the book "Trees for Life". The most popular blogpost will get an iPad.
This blogpost received 28 votes, with an average score of 5 (out of a max of 5).
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Degraded land before and after the implementation of dynamic agroforestry systems
Soil recovering and organic production in a semi-arid valley of Bolivia through “high diversity dynamic agroforestry”
Summary: There is broad scene of agroforestry ranging from “alley cropping” up to building a natural forest system providing products for humankind. After 13 years testing different agroforestry approaches in the challenging semiarid area of the Bolivian Andes the “high diversity dynamic agroforestry” seems to be the most effective method. Copying the natural processes as best as possible and creating a “high diversity dynamic agroforestry system” provides rich soil, stable yields with variety of products while pesticides or fertilizer nor watering is needed. It is an agro system which grows and changes dynamically thus requesting a new approach and perspective of us producers. Still, once learned and accepted the principles of “dynamic agroforestry” it opens to the producers a new world creating productive spaces without the well-known problems of conventional agriculture. Instead of soil degradation, water shortage and dissemination of harmful insects and plant diseases, “dynamic agroforestry systems” have advantages in biophysical and socioeconomically aspects, show resilience of productivity and a very high capacity to sequester carbon. Thus counters global warming and offers to realize climate smart agriculture.
The following describes the process and main discoveries of “high diversity dynamic agroforestry” in Mollesnejta, Bolivia.
On-site situation in 2001: Degraded, stony soil, erosion and absence of vegetation are the consequences of grazing pressure on a hillslope in the Andean valley of Cochabamba/Bolivia. This property named Mollesnejta is situated at 2.800 Meter above sea level, were average precipitation is 450 mm/year with up to nine months of dry season.
Undertaking: planting native and exotic trees and bushes, combining nitrogen fixing species with fruits and nuts, in between crop plants, vegetables and spice plants. Natural regeneration is allowed in order to create a holistic production system. This imitates ecological dynamics of a forest ecosystem as well as the typical climax vegetation (the species which establishes itself in the absence of disturbance on a given site for given climatic conditions and soil properties). There was much drawback in the beginning because of cows intruding from neighborhood areas and devouring the young plants, ants cutting leaves causing death of the little trees and others. We learned to manage our agroforestry systems successfully by observing nature. We copy the principles of diversity, density and natural succession until achieving a quasi-natural production system with structural and functional aspects of indigenous forests and natural dynamics.
Methods:
- Plantation of a large diversity of fruits, nuts, vegetables, spice and crop species in combination with a huge diversity of native species in the same space
- Association of perennial fruit species and native plants, giving preference to those which fix nitrogen and / or act like natural repellents
- Combination of species with a different status in the natural succession (pioneer, secondary, primary)
- Optimizing space use by producing in all strata (belowground and at different levels aboveground like in natural forests)
- Planting of sensitive fruit species in the shelter of native bushes and trees
- Maintenance of the plant community in a developing process (sub-climax status) trough periodic tree-pruning with the aim to stimulate the sprouting
- Protection of the soil using the organic material from tree-pruning as mulch
Results in productivity & soil enrichment:
The diversity of species stabilizes the production system
- The density of plants protects the soil against erosion, extreme changes of temperature and dehydration
- Native species in the production system induce to a natural balance between non-beneficial and beneficial organism, rendering unnecessary the use of pesticide
- The decrease of evaporation trough mulching of the soil and the plantation of living fences against hot and dry wind
- Fertilization of the soil through the decomposing of foliage, organic matter from tree-pruning and dead rootage
- Improvement of structure, drainage and respiration of the soil through increased rootage
- Improvement of rainwater infiltration into the soil and its capacity of water retention
- Optimization of the soil structure and preservation of fertility through the elaboration and application of agricarbon made from pruning material
- Interaction of different plant species results in synergy of development with high production
Outcome: after 13 years of work with “high diversity dynamic agroforestry” the soil has a considerable percentage of humus content and all plants show a good state of health. Although there is the presence of some pest insects, they cannot spread because of an antagonist fauna. The clou to manage the system consists in the periodical pruning of trees and brushes to preserve its productivity through maintaining the status of development or subclimax. All organic material from cutting is spread on the soil (mulching). The mulch layer converts into humus restoring the soil fertility trough the inhibition of nutrient and soil runoff, cycle of nutrients and capacity of humidity retention.
Result: “high diversity dynamic agroforestry systems” offer commodity benefits as well as non-commodity benefits (adaptation to climate change, mitigation of climate change, ecosystem services, habitat for endangered species, landscape molding). The production process demonstrates resilience to external influences (weeds, diseases, insect pests, extremes of temperature) and diversity of crop minimizes the risks of market failure.
On-site situation in 2014: On the 16 hectares of the Mollesnejta property we focused on soil restoration beginning with pioneer and sun-loving species. This prepared the ground for more delicate species which developed into a more mature system that is detained in a sub-climax state to preserve productivity. Today we are experimenting on a restored soil with 32 different types of “dynamic agroforestry systems”, producing organic fruits, olives, berries, vegetables, spices, herbal medicine, honey, crop plants and forage, furthermore firewood and wood for construction and the production of agricarbon.
The network Espacio COmpartido en Sistemas AgroForestales (ECOSAF) is promoting “good practices” and “lessons learned” obtained in Mollesnejta (www.ecosaf.org).
Photo:
Left: Degraded land in 2001 before the implementation of dynamic agroforestry systems.
Right: The same view in 2007 with dynamic agroforestry systems.
Blogpost and photo by Noemi Stadler-Kaulich (Farmer in Combuyo, Cochabamba/Bolivia) – nstadlerkaulich(at)googlemail.com
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This post is entry nr #24 in our #WCA2014 blog competition. The five blogposts with the most and highest votes will receive a signed copy of the book “Trees for Life”. The most popular blogpost will get an iPad.
This blogpost received 18 votes, with an average score of 5 (out of a max of 5). If you have questions or remarks on the project described in this post, please leave a comment below. Please also rate the other blogcompetition entries! Follow our #WCA2014 social reporting teamfollow our social reporting team via the #WCA2014 tag on Twitter, our blog and our Facebook page.
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Homegrown trees
Several researchers presenting at the forthcoming World Congress on Agroforestry say homegrown systems that capture carbon should be incentivized. They go further to propose the inclusion of agroforests, home gardens and boundary plantings in the UN systems for carbon financing for climate change mitigation.
Prasad V. Jasti and other scientists will discuss a study which quantified the extent of emission reductions and carbon sequestration in a contiguous area of 5000 ha (a grid) involving about 2000 households in three villages in southern India.
One of the important findings of the study is that integrating high-value trees such as teak (Tectona grandis) on farm boundaries could reduce emissions to the extent 60 percent, if done in the entire rainfed area of the grid.
Eskil Mattsson and colleagues will discuss ‘Carbon stock and tree diversity of dry-zone homegardens in southern Sri Lanka’, which also concludes that tropical homegardens hold great potential for climate change mitigation and adaptation, owing to their multifunctional role in providing income and ecosystem services while decreasing pressures on natural forests.
A decade ago, researchers from Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD) and World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) published a study showing that long-rotation systems such as agroforests, homegardens and boundary plantings could sequester sizeable quantities of carbon in plant biomass, soil, and woody matter.
However, more quantitative data is needed on homegardens and their landscape-wide potential for carbon sequestration. The scientists say such results would be useful to determine whether homegardens should directly or indirectly be considered for inclusion as an activity within UN-REDD national programmes.
In general, Jasti and fellow scientists say agroforestry (farming with trees) and the introduction of energy-efficient systems are compatible with the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). However, an umbrella methodology integrating these interventions at a landscape level is lacking.
“Such an approach will not only help to realize the benefits from trees but also make possible returns from carbon finance mechanisms by integrating smallholders,” they say in an abstract titled ‘Greenhouse gas mitigation in a landscape perspective: A case study from semi arid regions of India.’
By Isaiah Esipisu
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Edited by D. Ouya
If you want to join over 200 speakers and over 800 participants from 80 countries around the world, you have exactly five (5!) days in which to register. On January 31st at 23:00 IST (17:30 GMT) we will be closing the registration portal of World Congress on Agroforestry 2014. Please hurry!
For those of you have registered but not yet paid, you have two options – pay through the web page until January 31st or you can pay on the spot when you arrive at the venue. However, this will mean that you will probably have to miss the inaugural session of the Congress on that day. To understand why, read on.
India is according agroforestry extraordinary importance in its strategy to feed and green the country. As a sign of this the Hon. President of India, along with the Minister of Agriculture and Minister of Environment and Forestry will be inaugurating the Congress. While this is a great honour for the Congress it also means that there will be very high security at the venue, Vigyan Bhavan, on February 10th. All foreign participants wishing to participate on February 10th inaugural session must send a scan of their passport to the Congress Secretariat by January 31st. These will be used to get security clearance and invitations to the opening ceremony. The email address to forward the passport scan to is: wca2014@mci-group.com
Those of you who have not registered by 31 January, may register and pay at either of the venues (Vigyan Bhavan on the 10th or Kempinski Ambience 11th onwards). However you will only be allowed access to Vigyan Bhavan after departure of the President of India for security reasons.
The full Programme of the Congress will be available on the Congress website (www.wca2014.org) shortly. Here is an overview:
10th February: Inauguration, opening ceremony, Breakout Sessions 1&2 at Vigyan Bhawan. Followed by cocktail reception and dinner at Ashok Hotel.
11th-13th February: Plenaries and Breakout Sessions 3-6 at Kempinski Ambience Hotel, followed by side events on February 13th, also at Kempinski Ambience Hotel
14th February onwards: Optional field trips and participants return home.
Here is some more pertinent information:
- To upload a scan your passport log in to the registration portal with the ID and password you generated at the time of registration. If you are having problems with this please email the relevant file to wca2014@mci-group.com with your registration ID.
- Carry a copy of ‘registration confirmation’ with you to the Congress venues. This has your unique identifier in it. You will be given your Congress badge based on this.
- Do carry your passport with you at all times, especially when coming to Vigyan Bhavan on 10 February 2014
- Do not bring your camera or cell phone with you to Vigyan Bhavan on February 10th, as their use is prohibited for security reasons.
- If you have any queries or need any help at all please contact secretariat at wca2014@mci-group.com and we will do our best to help!
We look forward seeing you at WCA2014!
I have a flair for languages but soon realized you communicate better using dollar, pounds and Euros.
No matter how well afforestation help the planet and how much if well done it would save us from calamity waiting to befall planet earth in terms of reducing natural disaster, it just don’t sink well in the mind of land owners and investors, who prefers talking bills.
I not too long ago managed a project where I was to advice an investor who bought a large expanse of land, though passionate about agriculture but more concerned about how fast he could recuperate his investment. The farmland is a dream heaven to every admirer of nature, with tall palm-kernel trees casting their shades along foot paths to a gully site with a stream of water constantly flowing in and heading downstream.
Even though deep down I knew preserving this beautiful natural scenery is good but faced with the challenge of making real money out of it. You would be glad to see what had become of the gully structure and the space between the trees along the footpath after the gentle touch on nature of a professional Agricultural Engineer.
In between the trees along the footpath now has makeshift poultry building with carefully rammed floor, the idea was for the droppings to seep and be of benefit to the trees and the trees in turn provide shade to building covered with asbestos, thereby making the ambient temperature in the building just perfect for the birds.
A ditch was made down slope to collect remnant droppings to ferment and breed maggot to supplement and fertilize a gully structure carefully turned into a spring water filled fish pond with a suitable spillway to allow waste water flow downstream while the water level in the pond is maintained. The palm oil mill was located far away from the poultry to reduce noise getting to the birds.
At the end the over ten thousand catfish capacity fish pond and a proposed self multiplying poultry building integrated into the plantation had not only saved the trees from a harsh excavation of a civil Engineer but also contribute to the trees growth.
The investment when weighed against building houses on the land to rent far outweighed it in terms of profit generated and jobs created to rural dwellers in the area.
We can combine growing trees and making money!
Photo: The author in front of the poulty building
Blogpost and photo by Musa Al-baruwa Ibrahim (Nigeria) – abmusa4real(at)yahoo.com
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This post is entry nr #23 in our #WCA2014 blog competition. The five blogposts with the most and highest votes will receive a signed copy of the book “Trees for Life”. The most popular blogpost will get an iPad.
This blogpost received 15 votes, with an average score of 4.5 (out of a max of 5).
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Milk flows from the forests of Uttarakhand, you won’t believe it until you finish reading this blog!
I supervised my first Master’s dissertation; Forest based Dairy husbandry practices of Van Gujjars: a case study in Nainital district, during 1999-2000. This brought me closer to a forest dwelling community called Van Gujjars- -largely nomadic, simple, honest, down to earth, peace loving people living in forests for hundreds of years.
Van Gujjars rear buffaloes for living-in a class of their own-only Muslim forest dwelling community in India. The forest dwelling communities, anywhere in the world are generally in conflicts with the government; in fact- a big headache to forest departments. So is true with Muslim Gujjars of Uttarakhand-blamed for exploitation of forest resources, resulting in forest destruction.
I don’t want to ruminate here on socio-legal issues, Gujjars’ agitations for their traditional rights on forests, forest act, governments’ eviction plans, NGOs pleading Gujjar’s case etc. For me, it is intriguing, Van Gujjars produce wholesome milk while living in forest. Van Gujjars’ hamlets deep inside the forests spread across Tarai/ Bhabar tracts in the foot hills of Shivaliks could be any visitor’s delight. On an average, each family owns up to 25 heads of buffaloes, totally dependent on forest resources with very limited external inputs used. They depend entirely on their herds for their livelihood. They treat buffaloes with love, care and highest affection so much so that they shun beef-never killing buffaloes for meat.
Van Gujjars’ milk & milk products are considered of high quality earning market premiums. It is sinful for them to adulterate milk with water or anything else. Whenever, I buy Khoya, I ensure it is from Van Gujjars, happily paying a little extra for quality. I am sure the forest officials too have tastes for their products despite bitter relations with them officially. With expanding organic market, milk & milk products free from pesticides & other contaminants like washing powder, urea etc have high demand, no surprise! May be non Van Gujjar milk producers draw lessons on good quality milk production from Van Gujjars-which consumers are increasingly demanding? A few Gujjars told us, they too at times get tempted to adulterate milk, seeing non-Gujjars doing it rampantly pocketing more profits.
To local Forest Department, they are encroachers, staying illegally, causing damage to forests, environment & ecology, requiring immediate evictions. Recently, the Uttarakhand government passed an order on 26 November 2013, to move 228 Van Gujjar families residing in the Chillawali range of the Rajaji National Park to Shahmansur locality of Bandarjud area, in the Haridwar district. However, the similar attempts in the past have not met with success, even when they were provided with housing and some land. Gujjars use forest resources like fuel wood, tree fodder by lopping trees, grass, & timber for making their houses. In the process, they are blamed to over exploit natural resources. Looking at the benefits of freebie, the communities which are not traditionally forest dwelling too are tempted to encroach on forest land. The implications are far serious considering the huge number of landless people in the country with rising unemployment. The forest may vanish, if livestock rearing inside forests by non-Gujjars comes in practice!
But, the Gujjars say, they know best how to manage forest than the forest officials-mere academics. We found in our study, they had unique systems of lopping trees, harvesting fodder and grazing their buffaloes. They believe in sustainable use of forest resources. We found Van Gujjars were comfortable in the wild than living with the so called civilized society! Lacking in many civic amenities though, they love cleanliness and good living appreciably. Gradually they are developing tastes for modern living including clothing and gadgets. The younger generations may loose interest in buffaloes but for land, they might not leave forests. Greed may take over passion!!
One side forest department is at loggerhead with the Van Gujjars, the other government agencies like Milk cooperatives, animal husbandry department, and education & health departments extending their services to them. They have been extended domicile rights like voters’ rights too. For milk cooperatives, Gujjars are prized clients- an assured source of regular milk supply.
Is it a symbiotic sustainable relationship between forests & forest dwellers like Van Gujjars or an exploitative system, where forests are being systematically destroyed in the name of community rights on the forests? The social scientists defend the forest dwellers, while the forestry experts are their worst critics. The battle lines are clearly drawn since long.
Questions for us to answer:
- is there any model for sustainable forest based animal husbandry
- Should Van Gujjars be evicted from forests against their wish
- In case of eviction, what should be the compensation package
I see great potential in forest based livestock production by Van Gujjars. What about you?
Blogpost and illustration by Dr Mahesh Chander, Principal Scientist & Head, Division of Extension Education, Indian Veterinary Research Institute (Izatnagar, India) – mchanderivri(at)gmail.com
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This post is entry nr #22 in our #WCA2014 blog competition. The five blogposts with the most and highest votes will receive a signed copy of the book "Trees for Life". The most popular blogpost will get an iPad.
This blogpost received 538 votes, with an average score of 5 (out of a max of 5).
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Forests and locals of Himalayas are facing more challenges than ever. Extraction of bio resources is largely contributing to women drudgery and pressure on forests in Central Himalaya. Locals are looking for more practical alternatives that can also provide alternative livelihood to them. Let’s explore!
Inaccessibility and Poverty
Most of the valleys in higher Himalayas are very inaccessible. Enhanced human dependence, interference and extreme climate events have added to the misery of locals. Deprived socio-economic status of locals has always been largely responsible for the total dependence of locals on forests. Availability of fodder for livestock during lean winter periods is a huge dilemma. In Garhwal part of Central Himalaya, cattle are generally stall-fed, but sometimes they are also left for grazing in nearby forests and pastures. I have been working in the Upper Kedarnath valley of Garhwal since, 2005 initially for my study on natural and man-made pressures and their impact on forests for my PhD and later for implementing solutions based on my study.
Pressure and Drudgery
Women are considered “backbone of hill economy “in Garhwal. During my study I noticed women and girls walking up even before daybreak during cold and dry winters. They were leaving their houses and walking long distances for collecting fodder. Women sometimes also climbed mountains and trees to collect fodder because of unavailability of fodder in forests. They were back by forenoon with pending household chores waiting for them. “My wife has to walk longer distances for collecting fodder everyday and especially in winters for surplus fodder requirement that affects her health in big way” informs Beerulal of Maikhanda village in Upper Kedarnath Valley. I could also notice most of the men not being involved in collection. But many a times situations gets worse during fodder collection and they fell from rocks and trees fracturing their bones and in extreme situations they die because of inadequate medical help.
I completed my PhD field work in 2008 with detailed evaluations of all sorts of biomass flow from forests to nearby villages and their impact. Extraction of biomass and species preference is largely based on the indigenous knowledge and skills developed by years of experience of locals in forest related activities rather than scientific justifications. Hence, based on conclusions of my work and more excursions to other remote valleys of Garhwal and Kumaon in Central Himalaya I could understand wider picture about the issue.
I had a plan to develop a fodder based model on a community waste land to ensure round the year fodder supply. I shared my thoughts and concept with locals by organising a small meeting of Mahila Mangal Dals in few villages of Upper Kedarnath valley in 2008. Most of the locals particularly women readily agreed to test the concept.
Project Fodder
I went with my concept to state level sensitization meet of Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India in November 2008 with expectation for some finances to materialise my concept. To my surprise even senior level scientists seemed pleased with the perception. Some of them were curious too. “Why don`t you increase your grant amount? Why not plant multipurpose species?” commented one of the senior level scientists. “I will be focussing on fodder species because if I choose multipurpose trees I will be inviting wild animals to fruit trees and they might be threat to crops of locals” I answered. After a series of queries and responses they were convinced and were ready to provide me grant for my work.
Initiation
So, I was ready with some funds and in next few months we started our field activities. After a detailed discussion and taking opinion of both locals and experts I focussed on of fodder trees, shrubs and grasses that were indigenous, fast growing, high biomass yielding, nutritious and in long run could provide some economic benefits too. The indigenous species were selected by people based on their need, their indigenous knowledge about species with regards to enhanced lactation and better nutrition of animals. More than eight years of my research on forest ecosystems and people’s interaction helped me in identifying and prioritizing species for plantation.
Maikhanda village cluster in Upper Kedarnath Valley of Central Himalaya with a majority of poor and scheduled people with limited resources was chosen for model site. Willingness of local communities to provide village community land for fodder bank and some agriculture land for nursery helped us tremendously. Series of meetings with women and motivated men were held before and during execution of each activity i.e. fodder plantation, species selection, pits digging, fencing, land preparation etc.
Initiatives were also taken to focus on mass propagation of some lesser known and multipurpose tree species which are very much preferred as fodder available from agro-forests and degraded areas on road sides. In the initiative we also ensured to introduce some fast growing grass species that are not going to be detrimental to the biodiversity. Trenches were dug in the entire fodder bank site to enhance the percolation of water and survival of fodder plants. A cost effective Rain water harvesting tank was also constructed using local resources to store the rain water as the area faces shortage of water during summers.
Building Capacity
During our plantation and capacity building programmes we discovered that most of the locals are planting fodder trees and grasses just out of their interest and they are totally unaware about scientific plantation and multiplication techniques. Some women were even too excited initially in grabbing free of cost seedlings without understanding that not all species can grow on all altitudes.
They were stiff in starting the experiment in their own kitchen gardens “This is all by government for us only” yelled one of the dominant looking woman in the group. Sustainable harvesting of fodder from trees and shrubs was also demonstrated in these small capacity building training programmes. Taking a step ahead while we started our activities at the fodder bank site we also started plantation of all these high biomass, fast growing grasses on cropland bunds of locals.
The Impact
After almost a year from 2010 onwards more than 65 household of the village initially reported 15 harvestings every month and stall feeding of Napier grass and other indigenous fodder species to their milching animals. There are few families in the village those are not visiting nearby forests anymore. Number of women beneficiaries is increasing every six months who are introducing these fast growing high biomass yielding species in their own cropland bunds and kitchen gardens. Lactation yield of local livestock has also improved and directly indicating the nutritional quality of the fodder.
The future
For the sustainability of this whole concept after three years in 2012 the model was transferred to local Mahila Mangal Dals. Women of the village consider it their own community forest and harvest fodder on a rotational basis. Person not abiding with regulations have to pay compensation that directly goes in maintenance of nursery and fodder bank site. Nursery is still running with nominal financial support from me and selling seedlings and fodder seeds at nominal cost.
Locals have not stopped yet and they are still working in multiplication and plantation of these fast growing grasses on cropland bunds of entire village to become a green and self sufficient village in long run. For women and locals of the valley, Fodder bank Model has brought the discovery that the solution to seasonal fodder deficit, and milk output from, lies not with the cattle, but with growing smart grass.
Further reading:
- Fodder banks can reduce women drudgery and anthropogenic pressure from forests of Western Himalaya (PDF)
- Trees and farming
- Utility of Fodder Banks for Reducing Women Drudgery and Anthropogenic Pressure from Forests of Western Himalaya
- Energy budget of fodder harvesting pattern along the altitudinal gradient in Garhwal Himalaya, India
Photo: Capacity building for planting fodder grasses
Blogpost by Dr.Shalini Dhyani, Scientist, CSIR-NEERI (Nagpur, Maharashtra, India) – shalini3006(at)gmail.com
Photo by Dr. Deepak Dhyani
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This post is entry nr #21 in our #WCA2014 blog competition. The five blogposts with the most and highest votes will receive a signed copy of the book "Trees for Life". The most popular blogpost will get an iPad.
This blogpost received 4,965 votes, with an average score of 5 (out of a max of 5).
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I am neither a scientist nor a politician. I am just a type of person considered as a ‘development practitioner’. I try to look at the problem from a macro point of view – considering an institutional framework, as well as the ground challenges and YES, my name is Meerim and I am from Kyrgyzstan.
This blogpost is an attempt to present complex ideas which succinctly drives the forest sector in Kyrgyzstan. You have to limit yourself to explain something, so don’t expect academic tracts or state-of-the-art info graphics. Instead, look forward to surprisingly simple explanations of our inexplicable society and to having some of preconceived ideas radically challenged in Kyrgyzstan and worldwide.
This blogpost is about change from our day-to-day lives to the big and almost incomprehensible changes with a specific focus on youth involvement in forestry and other important ecosystems. Some are more serious and complicated than others. And none of them are explored here in depth: I am giving you a food for thought that I hope will whet your appetite to find out more.
This is my feelings and thoughts which I got from my master thesis on natural resource management in Kyrgyzstan with a focus on the forest sector. Of course, the 700 words in this blog post it is just a selection of my findings and some of today’s fundamental upheavals.
The focus of my study was on forest ecosystems in Kyrgyzstan, especially the community participation and its management. Because the way forest resources management is organized (globally) has strong implications in cultural terms, and on the way society it controls and distributes access, in terms of social institutions as well as in terms of political/legal arrangements. In other words, not only “economy” and “law” but “cultural, social and political” elements as well.
For this study, I looked at the Community Forest Management model in order to identify and analyze challenges in local communities in the country. Through this study several of discussions and interviews were carried out, including representatives from the Government, forestry specialists and experts in the country, moreover a field trip was conducted to interview the local people, particularly forest users. It was identified in my study that there is a need for a more intensive social mobilization of the community as a whole and the opportunities afforded by community based management should be conducted to allow for broader participation.
However, the most important thing which came out of this study is a lack of young people living in rural areas. A huge migration flow is rising to urban areas or/and abroad and therefore old people and women became the main labor force. Women and old people have become the main labor force, playing key roles in local communities, however they are not being capable of handling some of the labor requirements and hence these local communities are not given the opportunity to handle a portion of the land.
Participation of young people in rural areas is crucial and in long-term prospective this issue may curb the pressure on the forest sector in the country as whole. I believe the same thing happens in many developing countries and globally speaking this may led to greater challenges in the forest sector. It is important to highlight the importance of this sector which contributes many key political and economical interventions and they way forests are managed can whether significantly influence the success or dramatically fail it.
The lack of youth involvement and management creates different challenges in our societies including governance problems, environmental degradation, livelihoods problems/economic cause and climate change impacts which appear to be intensifying to the problems and potential worsening of our future. Youth participation in forest resources management (and other ecosystems) is a global problem and it can not be solved by the global economy that we have, but it could be changed by a global government that we do not have.
The future is already tomorrow and without youngsters our world will degrade and fall apart. Therefore the question pops up: “Who rules the world ?” Youth?
Blogpost by Meerim Shakirova (Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan) – mshakirova(at)gmail.com
Picture by Peter Casier/CCAFS
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This post is entry nr #20 in our #WCA2014 blog competition. The five blogposts with the most and highest votes will receive a signed copy of the book "Trees for Life". The most popular blogpost will get an iPad.
This blogpost received 1,185 votes, with an average score of 5 (out of a max of 5).
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If you studied Agroforestry or a related course at Bangor University (Wales, UK) and are attending the World Congress on Agroforestry, we want to hear from you!
We are arranging a social event for us to gather together and catch up on the good times and see where each other are these days.
Whether you studied 20 years ago or just last year, it would be wonderful to hear your latest news and share ours with you.
Please contact Genevieve Lamond in the School of Environment, Natural Resources and Geography to register your interest: g.lamond(at)bangor.ac.uk.
Further details will be e-mailed once you have contacted Genevieve.
Children in the Kattupakkam Centre during the drawing competition
One of the key pre-congress activities related to World Congress on Agroforestry 2014 was a painting and essay-writing competition for schoolchildren. The objective of activity was to promote a love for trees and nature in the young generation, so they can develop into citizens conscious of their duty to care for the environment. Similar to the Congress, the theme of the competition was ‘Trees for Life.’
The competition had two categories: a painting competition for 6 to 12-year-olds and an essay competition for 13 to 18-years-olds.
It was well publicized through announcements on the official web pages of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi, and the National Research Centre for Agroforestry (NRCAF), Jhansi. Information on the competition was also displayed on Facebook pages and sent to the pan-India database of more than 264 schools, 25 State agricultural universities countrywide, and to the officers-in-charge of coordinating centres of the All India Coordinated Research Project on Agroforestry (AICRP). The competition was also publicised in the NRCAF newsletter.
The competition recorded an overwhelming response, with the participation of children from 18 States: Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Andaman & Nicobar Island, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, New Delhi, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Uttrakhand and West Bengal. About 56 per cent of the participants were girls.
The entries were judged by an independent jury.
The President of the Indian Society of Agroforestry Dr Shiv Kumar Dhyani announced the results on 15 January 2014. He congratulated the winners, their parents and teachers, and thanked all the children who participated in the competition.
The winners of essay competition are:
- 1st Prize: Km. Nisitha Pattanaik, daughter of Shri Kshitish Chandra Pattanaik. Bhubaneswar, Odisha
- 2nd Prize: Mr. V.S. Naveen Kumar, son of R. Saravanan. Karamadai, Dist.- Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu
- 3rd Prize: Mr. Prashant Kaushik, son of Shri J.L. Sharma. Mathura , Uttar Pradesh
The winners of painting competition are:
- 1st Prize: Km. V. Niharika, daughter of S. Varada Rajan.K.K. Pudur, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu
- 2nd Prize: Km.Bidyasha Harichandan, daughter of Benudhar Harichandan. IRC Village, Bhubaneswar, Odisha
- 3rd Prize: Km. Vaishvi Shah, daughter of Dr. Sarvesh Kumar Shah. SDAU, Sardarkrushinagar, Gujarat
V. Niharika’s prizewinning illustration
of the role of trees in our lives
(Click on the picture to see the full size drawing)
Km. Nisitha Pattanaik from Bhubaneswar, who won the first prize in the essay competition, elaborated in a very interesting and emphatic way the role of trees in our lives and the future of human and animal life on earth, as well as the need to conserve our environment and biodiversity by saving trees and forests. Similarly, the first-prize winner in the painting competition, Km. V. Niharika from Tamil Nadu, illustrated the role of trees in our lives in a very beautiful and colourful way.
The winners of the competition will receive their prizes and certificates from the Honorable President of India, as part of the Congress opening ceremony at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi, on 10 February 2014.
The organizers of the World Congress on Agroforestry congratulate all the winners and look forward to being part of one of their proudest moments, in Delhi!
Blogpost and illustration with thanks to Dr A K Handa
Agroforestry Montage
In their editorial review for a special edition of the journal Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, Mark Stafford Smith of CSIRO and Cheikh Mbow of World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) give compelling examples of the complex challenges the agroforestry researcher works through in analyzing the interactions between people, trees and agriculture. The complexity arises in large part because the interactions happen within dynamic landscapes that are also influenced by policy decisions, market forces, and climate change.
“These social–ecological interactions are not mutually exclusive and require systemic approaches,” say the authors, who based the editorial on the 23 articles published in the special journal edition.
Take for instance the issue of drivers (causes) of deforestation in Africa. These are intimately linked with the growing demand for commodities, fuelwood and charcoal, and could be addressed through sustainable intensification using agroforestry practices. Yet this growth in demand, itself, can also encourage on-farm intensification, by stimulating the market.
On the issue of gender equity, agroforestry has the potential to offer substantial benefits to women, e.g. by bringing fuelwood close to the home. These gender outcomes happen at the same time as trees on farms provide households with nutrition, income from non-timber products (e.g. shea fruits), and a range of ecological services.
Click here for full article
Jatropha in Kiambere, Eastern Kenya – Photo by Isaiah Esipisu
At least three research papers to be presented at the World Congress on Agroforestry will deal with Jatropha curcas, a tree that was once promoted in Africa as a biodiesel source, but disappointed many small-scale farmers.
One of the papers, ‘Agroforestry – a promising option for tree borne oil seeds production,’ argues that the major constraint in farming oilseeds is the lack of accurate information about the cultivation practices of particular species, their potential yields and income-generating potential.
Dr P. Kumar of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University and co-authors say a systematic approach backed by scientifically validated information is necessary to inform the promotion of oilseed species.
In another presentation, ICRAF scientist Miyuki Iiyama and colleagues will analyse the factors that adversely affected the value chain of jatropha in Africa. This post-assessment of the evidence is expected to provide important lessons from the past, as well as insights into future biofuel development in Africa.
In a third presentation, Balakrishna Gowda and colleagues will show how non-edible oil seed trees and crops can be important in multipurpose agroforestry systems. Based on a successful model developed and implemented in the state of Karnataka, India, the scientists will argue that the adoption of “multispecies consortia” of non-edible oilseed trees, including jatropha, supports productivity in food crops, and produces biodiesel for local use. Furthermore, the trees can be used to improve soil health, produce animal feeds, and so on.
By Isaiah Esipisu
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Edited by D. Ouya
While cooking using firewood, this burner produces charcoal
Fuelwood and charcoal remain the most important sources of energy among both the rural and urban poor in the developing world, but their unsustainable use can quickly degrade the environment. But one Kenyan scholar has shown the way to mitigate this impact.
Before he died, the late Dr Maxwell Kinyanjui had invented a firewood burner, which by using dry wood, produces charcoal to be used for making another meal, another time.
And now, with just Sh1200 ($15), those in Kenya who can access the improved cook-stoves have the opportunity to ‘recycle’ fuelwood, by using it first as firewood, and later as charcoal.
Kinyanjui believed in maximising the use of energy. “We cannot do away with charcoal and firewood in many African countries because we do not have a perfect and affordable alternative,” he used to say.“All we need is to encourage people to engage in charcoal farming, and use the wood more sustainably,” said the man who had planted acacia trees on over 1000 acres, specifically for charcoal production.
Experts at the forthcoming World Congress on Agroforestry will discuss modalities on how dissemination of such energy saving cook-stoves can attract climate financing.
During the congress, Olivia Freeman and Hisham Zerriffi will examine the potential of carbon financing as a tool for promoting cook-stove dissemination,with reference to a research that looks at the impacts of carbon finance on organizational activities and business models using India as a case study.
In their discussion, the two researchers will explore different organizational approaches employed, perceptions around carbon financing from both those choosing to and not to apply for carbon certification, and identification of the opportunities, challenges and unknowns surrounding carbon finance for cook-stove dissemination.
Switching to energy-saving stoves will greatly reduce the demand for biomass fuel because, according to the researchers, 90 percent of the rural population and 31 percent of the urban population still primarily depend on solid fuels for cooking. At the same time, the improved stoves will directly improve livelihoods and help address climate change.
By Isaiah Esipisu
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Edited by D. Ouya
That trees can be scary, is unbelievable, at least for me.
As an agroforestry scientist, I firmly believe that trees on farms lead to a variety of functions that directly or indirectly contribute to the livelihood security. This is what I am teaching since past more than a decade.
How could someone just simply say that they do not like trees on their farms, I asked myself? The story dates back to a couple of years back when I was running through the results of Raza Ali, one of my post graduate student.
I still remember the discussions I had with him, while finalizing his research problem. We were at crossroads because he was interested in socio-economic studies whereas I had something else in my mind, except for one thing in common, that is the study area. Anyway, his co-advisors were quite enthusiastic about his idea, so I agreed. The study was to be conducted in the Samba district of Jammu and Kashmir State, India. The study area was totally rainfed, locally known as ‘Kandi’, meaning dryland. To be more precise, these dry regions are actually low rolling hills lying parallel to the main Himalayan arc and are known as Shiwalik hills.
Objectives of the study were to identify the existing agroforestry practices and their components, to study the perceptions of farmers about the effect of trees on the understory crop and to identify the constraints faced by the farmers in growing trees on their farms. For this purpose a total of one hundred eighty respondents from the study area were interviewed through a pre-structured interview schedule in person.
It emerged from the survey that the farmers’ perception about the effect of trees on associated crop yield was predominantly negative. When asked about the effect of trees on understory crop, out of 180 sampled households, 158 of the respondents believed that the presence of trees on the agricultural field would reduce the growth and yield of the understory agricultural crop.
The results seemed bland to me. Meanwhile the student was preparing for the thesis defense and he presented the results very impressively. At one point he said that it was very difficult to expect from farmers to go for trees where even agriculture is problematic. This statement flushed out all the confusions from my mind because subconsciously I was comparing a dryland area with irrigated plains. A subtle smile appeared on my face as I congratulated him on such a splendid defense. Very true, trees may scare you sometimes.
But the story does not end here. It is a beginning at least for me, to find suitable trees and crops for the area and persuade farmers to go for agroforestry. This story also aims to highlight the importance of socioeconomic studies in agroforestry. I always believed that biophysical research was the only answer to solve all the agroforestry problems and negated the importance of socio-economic aspects. But now I feel it is equally important to understand the farmer’s needs, his problems and perceptions in order to encourage the adoption of appropriate agroforestry technology.
Photo: The study area: Samba district of Jammu and Kashmir State, India
Photo by: Raza Ali
Blogpost by Dr Sandeep Sehgal – Assistant Professor, Agroforestry, Sher-e-Kashmir University of agricultural Sciences and Technology (Chatha – Jammu, India) – sehgals1(at)yahoo.com
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This post is entry nr #19 in our #WCA2014 blog competition. The five blogposts with the most and highest votes will receive a signed copy of the book “Trees for Life”. The most popular blogpost will get an iPad.
This blogpost received 112 votes, with an average score of 4.5 (out of a max of 5).
Follow our #WCA2014 social reporting teamfollow our social reporting team via the #WCA2014 tag on Twitter, our blog and our Facebook page.
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A farming system based model piloted in ecologically fragile arid-desert areas
This story is about emerging initiative that demonstrates that agro ecological farming with arid specificity is an appropriate and cost-effective approach to increase resilience in drought prone, ecologically fragile arid most/desert areas. There is growing agreement amongst planners, researchers and development agencies about the need for different development approach for Drought Prone and Ecologically Fragile Arid Most Region of North -Western India.
These regions are characterized by poor natural resource base, perpetual drought, very high temperature, and very low precipitation, scarcity of water, low content of organic matter and presence of soluble salt in the soil. Agriculture is mostly rain fed with annual rainfall being 250 mm, received over a period of 12-15 days . Communities face difficult life owing to scarcity of water, fuel and fodder and subsistence agriculture yield. Migration to cities is mostly adopted as a coping mechanism.
Human communities have adapted to very harsh and adverse physical environments. There is however scope and opportunity for enhancing livelihoods in adverse conditions, by bringing in new knowledge and ideas and systematically integrating them with traditional indigenous knowledge and skills.
In this new paradigm, farming systems are seen as a whole, integrating agri- horti-livestock, fodder and water at household level which helps farmers to reap multiple benefits. The programme is being implemented in Barmer district of Rajasthan in coordination with Rajasthan Rural Institute of Development Management, Udaipur
As a strategy, it was decided to utilize the existing natural resources judiciously by conserving every drop of scarce water, strengthen the livestock based farming system, improve the degraded community pastures through promotion of silvipasture, increasing land productivity and income through various inventions like agro-horticulture, agro-forestry and diversified improved agriculture. The interventions were also aimed at creating more productive assets both at family and at the community level .
The model is built around traditional tanka (underground water storage structure) system of desert communities. The efforts are made to integrate its use in agro ecological farming system combining agri, horti, fodder and livestock promotion on lands adjacent to Dhanis (Traditional hamlet). Farmers were motivated to plant trees that required less water for getting a stable income from the land.
The choice of fruit plants included ber (Ziziphus mauritiana), Pomegranate (Punica granatum), Gondi (Cordia gheraf) and date palm owing to their tolerance to excessive heat, survival in salinity and less water requirement. Around 50 plants of two hybrid ber varieties (Gola and Seb) promoted by CAZRI, were planted along with 50 other fruit-yielding plants on half an acre area. Other adaptation techniques were also used. For instance, SYBOIN –S, a PH reducer, was used to increase water storage capacity of sandy soils. Vermicompost and organic manures were added to enhance root growth. In forestry, trees like khejari (Prosopis cineraria) were introduced to meet fuel wood and fodder requirement. For nutritional security, vegetable crops suitable for arid region like water melon, cucumber, ridge gourd, bottle gourd were grown on fence.
Apart from land based interventions, to improve the quality of the existing breeds, cross breeding with ‘Sindhi’ breed of goat was promoted which has higher yield of meat and milk as compared to mix of Marwari and Sirohi breeds which were reared originally.
To improve forage production, traditional practice of protection of commons was revived for silvipasture development.and perennial forage grasses like Sewan (Lasiurus Sindicus), Dhaman (Cenchrus setigerus) and stylo hamata, and fodder trees like Pilu (Careya arborea), Gondi (Cordia dichotoma), Neem and Shirish (Indian siris).were planted.
Activities were introduced with technical inputs from various technical institutes working on dessert issues like, Central Arid Zone Research Institute (CAZRI),Jodhpur, Arid Forest Research Institute (AFRI), Jodhpur and Rajasthan Agriculture University (RAU), Bikaner.. Local KVKs provided training and extension, soil testing support along with supply of improved seeds suitable for desert regions.
After a consistent effort of past 5 years, today one can see a synergistic impact that is produced on the livelihood situation of desert communities in this region. The income from fruit trees is fully realizable from year 4 . Average income from 80 plants per household from forth year are around Rs. 30,000/- Where as additional income from goat intervention is Rs 4500/- in two years. Ber also plants provided an additional advantage with their green foliage serving as fodder. From the fourth year onwards, each ber plant has yielded around 4kg of fodder. With 80 trees per wadi, every household had a potential to harvest 320 kg of fodder, which could support goat rearing.
Apart from direct income gains, there are several ‘’income plus ‘’ benefits which are valuable to farmers. When asked about scope for sale of vegetables that were ready to harvest from wadi , the farmer refused the idea saying that, ‘’ This is a gift of God to me for the first time from this land . So, I will not sell it but will distribute it freely! ’’
This farming system model combining water-resource development with agri-horti-forestry and fodder and livestock development, is thus emerging as a viable and sustainable approach for addressing a gamut of core needs of desert communities with replication potential. The efforts are now required for proper mainstreaming of this approach across arid parts of South Asia…
Photo: A farmer from Barmer district of Rajasthan looking at fruit bearing ber wadi
Photo by: Abhay Gandhe and BAIF team
Blogpost by Rajashree Joshi -Thematic Program Executive, BAIF Development Research Foundation (Pune, India) – rajeshreejoshi(at)baif.org.in
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This post is entry nr #18 in our #WCA2014 blog competition. The five blogposts with the most and highest votes will receive a signed copy of the book “Trees for Life”. The most popular blogpost will get an iPad.
This blogpost received 16 votes, with an average score of 4.5 (out of a max of 5). If you have questions or remarks on the project described in this post, please leave a comment below. Please also rate the other blogcompetition entries! Follow our #WCA2014 social reporting teamfollow our social reporting team via the #WCA2014 tag on Twitter, our blog and our Facebook page.
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Agroforestry can improve food security
Kenyan athletes returning home from their characteristic winning performances are usually welcomed with a gourdfull of mursik—a specially fermented milk preserved with the ash of the indigenous tree species Senna didymobotrya (syn. Cassia didymobotrya), known locally as Itet.
However, with the pressures of climate change and human activities, important indigenous tree species such as Itet face the risk of decimation. These trees and related herbal shrubs have great cultural importance, yet are neither domesticated nor commercialised.
At the World Congress on Agroforestry, Anja M. Oussoren of AgriPRO, Ivory Consult Ltd will explain how her company is working with partners to conserve and commercialise the healthy foods derived from indigenous trees in Kenya.
The company works together with ethnobotanists, horticultural scientists, food, beverage and nutraceutical companies, food scientists, lawyers and policy makers, in the identification and prioritization of indigenous trees for conservation, propagation, regeneration and commercialization. The company is using an innovative technique known as Indigenous Trees Incubators (ITIs) in this effort.
So far, says Oussoren, extensive conversations and in some cases draft memorandums of understanding are in place with Kenyan and international gene banks, national agricultural and forestry research centres, ministries of agriculture and environment, county decision makers, community representatives, research universities, food and beverage companies, and research foundations.
By Isaiah Esipisu
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Edited by D. Ouya
In the forest communities of Africa, a division of labour has long been clear among men and women. Women have typically been in charge of feeding the family through food crops cultivation with their diet completed with non-timber forest product (NTFP) collection, while the men helped to clear the food crop plots and concentrated more on cash crop cultivation and hunting. NTFP gathering and food crop cultivation were mainly for domestic use. But gone are those days! Nowadays, the opening up of remote areas, better access to urban markets and new opportunities of income have motivated women as well as men in forest communities to be actively involved in the sale of NTFPs and agricultural products in order to make more money.
“Unlike in the past, one can say things are improving for the best for the rural woman” says Mr Kira TONGO Boniface, a Bantou native from Petit-Pol village in the East Region of Cameroon, during a gender-segregated focus group discussion (FGD) in his community. He claims there are so many activities – agriculture, NTFP gathering, etc. – the rural woman is involved in presently, which provide her with daily income to sustain her family. Is this really the case?
Interestingly, information obtained through gender-segregated FGDs showed that men and women have a similar access to NTFPs in the wild, with restrictions occurring only on plots of land under cultivation or in fallows, where in general the land owner and his or her close relatives have exclusive access to these products. However, the men and women who participated in the discussions expressed having different preferences for forest products. The women take more interest in NTFPs such as Bush mango, for which they are the primary gatherers, processors and sellers. Fewer men are involved in this activity. Those involved say they do to raise income when they are in dire need for money while some do it as a form of assistance to their wives when they are out of activities. Men are much more actively involved in other forest-related activities such as bush meat hunting and small-scale logging.
Nowadays, NTFPs are more valued because the revenue they provide is becoming increasingly important to rural communities. But then, some hindrances – the seasonal nature and unpredictable productivity of NTFPs, lack of experience by traders, limited access to processing technologies, poor marketing strategies and inadequate market information, etc. – arise! This weighs on the amount of income realised from NTFP sales.
“Though NTFP gathering and sale are important and profitable to some extent, we cannot rely solely on them for our survival”, says Madam Ndimba, a Bulu native from Metylkpwale village in the South Region of Cameroon. “We can’t eat only (?) NTFPs every day, we need to diversify our diet, we need money when NTFPs are not producing and money from NTFP sale is not enough to provide income for the family throughout the year. We need more money. As a result, we expanded our agricultural activities (more plots of farmlands were open, more crops were planted) – which is now the principal activity – primarily for subsistence and secondly as a means to raise income for the household” she said.
Because of the increasing cash flow from NTFP gathering and food crop cultivation and sale, men are becoming interested in these “women’s businesses”. When asked why, Mr. Menguele Jean, a Bulu native from Ngon village, South Region of Cameroon, replied: “cocoa produces just once a year and before production we need money for farm maintenance and also for family upkeep. We therefore, decided to open larger plots in order to produce more food crops too for sale.” This new drive for income over time has led to more labour for the women who are expected to cultivate larger plots while maintaining their demanding daily house chores.
During a FGD in Melambo village in the East Region of Cameroon, Mrs Adrienne, a newly wed lady complained that she laboured more for money, yet earned less than she thought she would. She said: “we the women, who do most of the labour, get to remain retailers of NTFPs and food crops with very little profit, but the men – natives and non-natives alike – have become more of wholesalers and are enjoying most of the profit without labouring as much as we do”. As a result, the respective share from the sale of NTFPs and agricultural products between men and women needs to be renegotiated.
Photo: Family in Kouedjina,East Cameroon collected bush mango for sale as a family business
Blogpost by Yvonne Kiki Nchanji – Consultant/Gender Fellow, Center for International Forestry Research-CIFOR (Yaoundé, Cameroon) – ynchanji(at)gmail.com
Photo by Camille Dehu
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This post is entry nr #17 in our #WCA2014 blog competition. The five blogposts with the most and highest votes will receive a signed copy of the book “Trees for Life”. The most popular blogpost will get an iPad.
This blogpost received 142 votes, with an average score of 5 (out of a max of 5).
Follow our #WCA2014 social reporting teamfollow our social reporting team via the #WCA2014 tag on Twitter, our blog and our Facebook page.
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I am Manish, from a small village called Navinagar in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. Currently I am pursuing Masters Program in Agro-Forestry from SHIATS, Allahabad, where my journey to initiate a change in the present form of agriculture which mostly is concerned only with crop cultivation began, at least at a micro level.
Basically I belong to a family having sole agricultural background and family income is largely dependent on it. I started visiting the fields with my father since I was 13-14 years old. I saw how the farmers’ fate was at large determined by the will of the monsoons due to much dependency on rains for irrigation and lack of adequate irrigation facilities.
After completing my secondary education from agriculture stream at intermediate level, I decided to opt for forestry sciences as major subject for my further studies, the reason behind being my strong inclination towards nature and environment. So for my higher studies in the desired stream I took admission in SHIATS, Allahabad, which is one of India’s premier institutes in the field of Agricultural and Forestry sciences.
It all started when I visited my home after completing my first year of graduation. I realised that the kind of farming practices farmers were following were not fetching them decent returns, all credited to the backward farming practices adopted by them. The farmers were reluctant to go for tree plantation in or around the fields. This tendency was due to the belief that growing trees with crops will adversely affect their crop yields because trees will consume much of water and nutrients and there will not be sufficient production due to such scarcity. Not much emphasis was laid on the scarce forest cover which was gradually reducing as more parts of land were being cleared and brought under cultivation to get higher gains in economic terms.
This prevailing system required a change and I took this chance as an opportunity to impart my academic knowledge in the interest of farmer community towards some applicable good. So first of all I discussed this matter with my father. Although he was aware of all those things but the benefits of the technical front that
I put forward were hard to digest even for him, leave rest.
It required keeping at stake a huge chunk of land and above all the related output for the sake of experimentation and this made him a bit shy. The reason for this was age long traditional cropping pattern and the belief that trees and crops cannot be grown together in a compatible manner. This required a paradigm shift. I told my father that there is no such issue that trees will hamper crop cultivation. Instead this will raise capital by providing timber and other produce ultimately contributing to the financial strengthening.
I somehow gained a bit in convincing him. Since Poplar was easy to grow, required less or no special care and provided handsome timber output, we decided to plant Poplar trees along the fields’ periphery. We grew wheat, rice, mustard and potato along with Poplar and the results were quite fascinating. There was no significant reduction in the crop yield and the first batch of Poplar was ready within four years. The timber was in high demand so it also fetched good sum.
Since the results were quite fruitful, it inspired other farmers also to take up this practice and a new trend of agro-forestry based farming began in my village. I also tendered my cooperation and with their help expanded the new practice.
This practice has now become very popular among the farmers. At present about 85% of the farmers in my village are using agro-forestry models. They are also planting Teak and Subabul trees other than Poplar. The production from one hectare plantation is 120-180 cubic meters of saw log timber, depending upon the tree type.
I found that the awareness for agro-forestry technologies among farmers is low and this could be due to ineffective communication about the long term benefits of agro-forestry technologies between the change agents and other farmers.
This is the right time for agro-forestry extension. Natural tree cover has been diminishing over the years due to human activities of settlement and agriculture, gradually leading to land degradation by soil erosion, which has become a cause of constant drought, landslide, flood and ecological imbalance. This has also led to various socio-economic problems of which exorbitantly high cost of timber for construction work and industries, crisis of fuelwood for cooking and other purposes, scarcity of tree based fodder for animals in arid and semi-arid areas are only to name some.
There should be concern regarding steps required to be considered for extension. Local resources need to be identified prior to necessary external assistance for system and community needs should be kept in mind while planning for such activities; these may include items like water, food, shelter, energy etc. Different society groups could be assigned specific roles while coming up with the plans. Well organised surveys should be carried out to establish the resources base of the community, including land, labour and capital and the problems associated with utilization of the resources in the much anticipated agro-forestry system. The entrepreneurial ability of the community members must also be identified because this influences the intensity with which the existing resources are exploited.
At last concluding I would like to say that youth should come forward and enhance the scope of agro-forestry based systems. They are innovative and should impart their technical and managerial skills towards this developmental framework. With this pattern we can lend out a helping hand towards the depleting forest resources and simultaneously contribute to the economic upliftment of a larger section of the society which is directly or indirectly dependent on agriculture. Growth is important but sustainable growth is what present concern is.
Comments & suggestions are warmly welcomed
Picture: Top: different Agro-Forestry Models – Bottom: author (center) with farm labourers
Blogpost and photo by Manish Kumar (Navinagar, Uttar Pradesh, India) – manishmaanchaudhary(at)gmail.com
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This post is entry nr #16 in our #WCA2014 blog competition. The five blogposts with the most and highest votes will receive a signed copy of the book “Trees for Life”. The most popular blogpost will get an iPad.
This blogpost received 2,280 votes, with an average score of 5 (out of a max of 5). If you have questions or remarks on the project described in this post, please leave a comment below. Please also rate the other blogcompetition entries! Follow our #WCA2014 social reporting teamfollow our social reporting team via the #WCA2014 tag on Twitter, our blog and our Facebook page.
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Bamboo used to be commonly referred to as the poor man’s timber. However research on and demand for bamboo products is defying this tag in an era. As demand for wood surges, several bamboo species are now being used for different purposes ranging from furniture making to land reclamation.
Bamboo has been popular and in very high demand in Asia where it is common in rafting but now this grass is being used the world over.
Yellow bamboo (Bambusa vulgaris) is mostly used for ornamental purposes while the giant bamboo (Dendrocalamus giganteus) is used in building, for food and furniture making. The edible bamboo shoots have become a delicacy in several fine-dining establishments especially those that cater to those with oriental preferences.
Bamboo in Kenya
In Kenya, the major uses are on river beds for soil conservation especially in areas where surface runoff threatens soil health.
The country has experienced a boom in the need for timber as the construction industry expands. This has left most lands denuded as forests are cleared for wood and cultivation.
The fast growing giant bamboo can be used as an alternative source of fuel and timber in the country. However, its production has been limited as it requires expansive swathes of land to be commercially viable.
The country has several bamboo types with the most common being Arundinaria alpina which is restricted to the highlands above 2,000 meters above sea level.
A now defunct project in Thika focused on the yellow and giant bamboo species. The project ostensibly failed because large tracts of land would be needed to commercially grow the giant bamboo. This is beside the fact that most forest land has been deforested and the rehabilitation of water towers like the Mau and Mt. Kenya forests have not incorporated the giant bamboo.
The Kenya Forestry Research Institute (KEFRI) is growing several edible bamboo species shoots, as they are high in trace elements and vitamins but low in carbohydrates, fat and protein.
There is also a new venture in bamboo clothing as it is durable and the target is a self-sustaining clothes line with bamboo as the raw material and with products ranging from bags, shoes, curtains, carpets and many more to create job opportunities and self-sustenance for several families.
The World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) has trained local artisans to make bamboo furniture. Among these was the Undugu Society which deals with accommodating and rehabilitating street children.
The products were made under the tutelage of Wayan Neka, an Indonesian, who taught artisans from Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda to make high quality bamboo products.
Margaret Oluoch, author of “Putting Science into Practice”, is one beneficiary who learned from Dr. Chin Ong who was in charge of the project at ICRAF. She founded Smejak, an organization dealing with conservation in agriculture.
Margaret has managed to apply the science and replicate it in her rural home in Kisumu to rehabilitate a river and also for fruit production on her farm in Kisumu. She says, “It came to me as a surprise that we can restore our land using resources we already have as we do not need to search for seeds. For instance, if I have to plant croton, I just need to collect the seeds and in due time they will germinate and be ready for transplanting.”
Margaret adds that science was so much in the books but is now implementing it to rehabilitate the Oroba River through the Friends of Oroba River initiative bringing the community together harnessing the resources and reclaiming them.
For the environment conservationists, advocating the use of Bamboo for its products will help not only in conserving nature but also addressing the emotive climate change issue.
Giant bamboo is one of the best sources of the demanded building materials that are sustainable. Unlike other trees, it grows at very high rate (three times faster than eucalyptus!) and matures in only three years. The towering plant can grow to a height of a hundred feet.
As a source of food, edible species of bamboo are being used extensively in Asia with the world consuming an estimated two million tonnes a year. Europe and North America are importing over a hundred and thirty tonnes a year!
Bamboo has several advantages, the major ones being self-replenishing, resilient and easy to maintain. Another reason why bamboo is preferred to other trees is that it creates a source of income generation which is manageable to many people especially those in low income groups who cannot afford a high capital to start their sources of livelihood.
Environmentally and most importantly, bamboo does not consume a lot of water. It can be grown in all areas from sea level to the highlands and it also has excellent hydrological properties in terms of high infiltration rates and low erosion rates compared to other types of land use.
Bamboo is very effective in soil erosion control as its rhizomes are very good in holding surface runoff thus it can be used to curb the problem of silting and sedimentation in rivers and lakes which is a problem on the headwaters, especially the Tana river which has as much as five litres of top soil per cubic meter of water flowing into the Indian ocean.
Bamboo is also very important in balancing oxygen and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere with some species sequestering up to twelve tonnes of carbon dioxide from the air per square hectare and is also the fastest growing canopy for the re-greening of degraded areas.
The bamboo plant is known to absorb heavy metals from water bodies thus can be very effective in sewage cleansing and can be planted along river banks for the same purposes.
Bamboo is also being used in the manufacture of parquets which is a direction away from the tradition of boards being made from other trees like the eucalyptus, mahogany and many more.
The market response in Europe and North America has been described as ‘very good’ where a square meter of the board is retailing at a range of between eighty and a hundred dollars.
Photo: A giant bamboo plant on the edge of River Njoro in Nakuru, Kenya
Blogpost and photo by Njenga Hakeenah (Nairobi, Kenya) – njenga.hakeenah(at)gmail.com
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This post is entry nr #15 in our #WCA2014 blog competition. The five blogposts with the most and highest votes will receive a signed copy of the book “Trees for Life”. The most popular blogpost will get an iPad.
This blogpost received 44 votes, with an average score of 4.5 (out of a max of 5).
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I grew up in a small family farm in Shivalik1 foot hills during 1960’s & 1970’s, listening to my mother & aunts mostly talking agonizing fodder scarcity.
Here crop-livestock integrated farming was the major source of livelihood & women in my village would mostly talk about fodder & livestock than chatting about their kids, their food & education. With ever reducing village commons & small land holdings, preferring fodder cultivation over growing food crops was considered a crazy idea then. Livestock would better graze in the nearby forest and survive largely on crop residues and lopped tree fodders.
Later, equipped with highest degrees in agricultural science from premier agricultural university and a veterinary research institute, I spent over six years during 1990s in Central Himalayan region of India as an Agricultural extension scientist. I extensively toured the region, to understand the local farmers & their problems so as to find ways to improve their life through improved livestock productivity.
I found feed and fodder scarcity was still a major constraint in the region, making life of rural women further stressful adding to drudgery as they had to spend most of their time in collecting fuel wood & fodder for livestock. Livestock has always been an integral part of mountain mixed farming system, which not only provide milk & meat but also an important source of manure for fertilizing soil.
From my childhood to half a century now, the women in this region still discuss the same old problem-fodder! my mother over 80 years now, whenever, I go to my village, her major worry remains- fodder for her single cow! Pity, I can’t help my mother- for things as small as grass!!!
We can see every morning women leaving homes in search of either fuel wood or fodder, risking their lives they climb up fodder trees every day. While lopping trees for fodder, women sometime fell down causing at time irrecoverable injuries making them handicapped for life. The hard working rural women of this region almost worship & nurture Grewia optiva, Celtis australis & Quercus leucotrichophora- the important fodder trees of the region. Women love these trees, may be more than their men, especially Grevia optiva is valued much for its multi- purpose uses like making ropes from its fibre, fuel wood & fodder which is also said to improve fat content in milk if fed to milch animals.
Since women continue to do most of the animal husbandry related tasks, they spend substantial time on fodder collection, hey making etc. I’m grown up since my childhood with lot many changes in my life, but the life of women here remains same regarding fodder needs for their livestock. In foot hills, farmers have adopted green fodder cultivation especially clover to some extent, but up in the hills problem remain as mountainous as it has always been!
At 50 years now, just like a middle age crisis/middle age blues, I wonder, if we can reduce the drudgery of women in rural areas of Uttarakhand by improving the fodder biomass production on- farm! Can we improve the availability of fodder through improved fodder cultivation practices or by improving the productivity of fodder trees through suitable interventions?
Maybe we can do a little good for women & livestock, if:
- Contribution of women in terms of their time & energy spent on fodder harvesting from trees & risk involved is worked out and life is insured.
- The importance of fodder trees, their potential for multiple uses especially for fodder availbility is documented.
- Research is carried on enhancing the biomass from these fodder trees including the nutritional profile of such trees.
- Women are trained on improving the net productivity from livestock by improving feeding strategies involving cultivated fodder production practices.
- Men start appreciating women’s role & share their livestock related activities including fodder harvesting from trees.
I wish what I have seen since my childhood- a life full of drudgery for rural women of Uttarakhand, change to better quality of life through improved fodder biomass production on-farm!
Photo: Two women in a fodder tree
Blogpost and photo by Dr Mahesh Chander, Principal Scientist & Head, Division of Extension Education, Indian Veterinary Research Institute (Izatnagar, India) – mchanderivri(at)gmail.com
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This post is entry nr #14 in our #WCA2014 blog competition. The five blogposts with the most and highest votes will receive a signed copy of the book “Trees for Life”. The most popular blogpost will get an iPad.
This blogpost received 1,331 votes, with an average score of 5 (out of a max of 5).
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Is it easy to grab a bull by the horn and force it to drink water in a well?…. That might not be an easy task even if the bull could be thirsty.
When the populace of Northern Uganda begun experiencing relative peace after the 20 years of Lord’s Resistance Army insurgency (LRA – popularly known as KONY 2012), there was need to restore the degraded landscape where a semi-scorched earth policy was used by both Ugandan Militia and the LRA rebels.
The Ugandan militia cleared vegetation and set fires in woodlands annually for 20 years so that they could expose the LRA rebels from their hideouts and for easy visibility if the rebels were attacking the Internally Displaced Persons Camps (IDP). The rebels engaged in massive lumbering and charcoal production in the forest and woodlands to exchange with ammunition with Sudan government.
The IDPs also did not spare vegetation in vicinity of the camps and the remaining scattered trees in woodlands upon return home and trade in forest produce was the only source of deriving a livelihood all of which exacerbated the weather of the region.
Having defeated and driven away the Lord’s Resistance Army rebels from Northern Uganda, Uganda Peoples Defense Forces (UPDF) were also having some rest in their barracks as the people resettled to their original homestead. As people resettled, their immediate priority were food, healthcare and educating their children. This required avenues where they could make quick money. Most of them believed that afforestation or agroforestry was not one avenue to derive quick money to meet their immediate needs though trade in forest produce was one of their best avenues of survival since agricultural productivity where affected by unreliable weather given the prolonged drought and frequent floods experienced. As we left the camps to resettle in our original homes, we were not entitled to food ration we enjoyed in the camps given by United Nations World Food Programme (UN-WFP).
Through our face to face outreach in homesteads, schools and public meetings, use of mass media (Tree Talk Magazine and Radio Talk shows) the community and children in schools where motivated and therefore got engaged in massive afforestation drive through which over 3 million trees where grown in households and schools between 2008 and 2011, more than 1500 energy saving stoves constructed in households, 500 school teachers trained, Local Environment Committee formed among other key result areas with funding from USAID under Wildlife, Landscape and Development for Conservation (WILD) Project.
Accessing military barracks in Uganda during and after the LRA war if you are a civilian is very difficult, like castrating a dog. Since the government militia participated in degrading our landscape and won the war, there was need to reach to them in their various barracks to convince them to get involved in restoration processes in the degraded landscape since the barracks also had vast hectares of land.
Armed with data/information on the extend of degradation in our landscapes we dared to visit Pajimo Army Barracks in Kitgum and made to wait at the quarter guard (gate) for 6 hours being interrogated for our motives of visit. It is through this 6 hours interrogation that I realized the power of passion; that if you are driven by passion, you will never cowardice and never run out of words however tough a question might be asked.
When given opportunity to meet and discuss with the Brigade Commander of the barracks, he got convinced that the military indeed must be part of the restoration and rehabilitation process of post-war landscape and also apologized on behalf of the entire army and pledge immediate involvement of all the barracks under his charge if we could provide the seedlings they required. Together with the Commander and my fellow colleagues, we immediately embarked on a reconnaissance of the barrack to do site species matching and it is here that I saw some of the weapons I feared there sound during the war.
When asked why he accepted us to enter and took us round the barracks, the commander told us that first, we were young, looked harmless and secondly that we had a strong justification for immediate action and that that was the best way of showing to us his commitment. But we also later realized that he underwent University education and partly why it was easy to have him convinced.
To date, all the barracks in Kitgum and Lamwo District have a minimum of 2hectares of woodlots, there is a Tree Nursery in Banabana barracks where they raise seedlings for sale and own planting, tree canopy is now helping them hide the ammunitions and able to meet their energy requirements, construction materials and diet enriched given the fruit trees we donated.
When I visited the barracks during Christmas of 2013, I was humbled. The commander told me that the greatest achievement in his 35 year military career was defeating Kony rebels and the trees he planted in the barracks. That he will never regret the orders he gave to his soldiers to plant trees in the barracks and that once he retired, all he will miss in the barracks are the trees.
The sight of his soldiers feeding on fruits brings him great joy. That when food ration for soldiers delays, he is no longer stressed because he is sure they will feed on the fruits as an option for some time. He tells me that if I am willing, he could take me to other barracks to do the same and that with the relative peace we are enjoying now in Uganda, barracks must be re-greened and all soldiers and civilians must plant fruits trees in their individual homes.
Photo: The author (front) and Ugandan soldiers loading seedlings from the author’s nursery to be planted at the first barracks
Blogpost and photo by Joseph Otim, a Forest Supervisor at National Forestry Authority (Kampala, Uganda) – jpotim(at)gmail.com
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This post is entry nr #13 in our #WCA2014 blog competition. The five blogposts with the most and highest votes will receive a signed copy of the book "Trees for Life". The most popular blogpost will get an iPad.
This blogpost received 26 votes, with an average score of 4.5 (out of a max of 5).
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Here in Central Alberta Canada, we live in the Aspen Parkland Biome. This means that our natural ecosystem consists of groves of poplars and spruce trees with a variety of understory perennial shrubs, vines and ground cover species. These clusters of trees would be interspersed with areas of prairie grasslands that were historically home to massive herds of grazing bison.
This biome is extremely resilient, very productive and perfect for our climate. Seeing as this is what our landscape naturally wants to become; why not work with it to achieve its true potential instead of fighting natural succession, expending huge amounts of time and resources in the process! Why not set up a farm that mimics our native biome?
By using the Aspen Parkland Biome as our template we can create a farm that is beyond organic and beyond sustainable. A farm that is regenerative and resilient because it functions as nature intended. What if we swap poplar, birch and box elder for apples, pears, cherries, plums and apricots? Change our native conifers for Korean Pine and we’ve got pine nuts as big as pistachios! Throw in some walnuts, chestnuts and oaks from the Oak Savannah Biome just south of us and we have our canopy species!
The mid story and understory is a little easier as hazelnuts, raspberries, cherries, saskatoons, cranberries, gooseberries and currants are already native here. However, we could add a few extras like mulberries, haskaps/honeyberries and hardy kiwis just to mix things up a bit. As for the ground layer, well we can just stick to strawberries and an incredible variety of medicinal plants that already call this place home! That covers our wooded areas, now what about the interspersed areas of grasslands?
We can simply plant some native grasses and some legumes in between our groves of fruit and nut trees and we are almost done! The last step is integrating animals into our farm system to manage the grassland and contribute to the fertility cycle. Seeing as bison are a little hard to manage and the fact we already have cattle, pigs and some chickens why not let them roam around keeping the trees and lush grass in check! Now add in all the native birds, amphibians, reptiles, insects and mammals that are desperately looking for a place to call their own, and there you have it! A farm cleverly disguised as a thriving ecosystem.
But how do we harvest these 25 plus edible trees, shrubs and perennials along with the hundreds of other culinary and medicinal herbs that would undoubtedly love to call this place home? Well by dividing our summer growing season, from about June to October, into 3 harvest periods per month we would get a total of 15 harvest times. Then, by simply grouping all of our desired edible crops into one or possibly two of these harvest periods our harvesting suddenly becomes less daunting and incredibly efficient.
Now, if we dig a shallow swale that follows the natural contour or Keyline of the land we can plant our trees, shrubs and perennials on the lower side of these swales. This will allow any and all water that falls on the landscape to be be spread out evenly and absorbed into the ground above the plant’s roots. Then, as the subsurface water plumes towards the awaiting roots it will be safe from the evaporative effects of the Sun! Plant these rows in pairs at regular intervals across the land, fence them off and bring in the animals! This farm is ready to roll!
So there you have it, a farm that can create and manage its own fertility, build soil, passively manage water and sequester carbon all while provide carbohydrates, proteins and oils for human or animal consumption, fruits that contain hundreds of nutraceutical properties, trees for timber, fuel and forage among many, many other things! We already have two small examples of this systems on our farm near Ferintosh, Alberta.
With over 80 fruit and nut trees and 200 plus support plants in the ground, it covers just over one acre. In the summer of 2014 we have plans to expand this to a larger 25 acre parcel. This expansion is going to be in partnership with our local community in the form of Community Supported Agriculture Forest Garden Shares. By working with our community we are adding a whole other level of diversity and resilience to our plan that we feel will get people back on the land to actually see where there food comes from. For more information about our farm and to see a video we made about our vision. Just visit our website GrassRootsFamilyFarm.ca, it should help you get a better picture of how it will all come together.
There is a Greek Proverb that reads “societies become great when old men and women plant trees who’s shade they know they will never enjoy”. I believe this adage is extremely relevant given our current state of affairs on our planet. Our current Agricultural system is largely responsible for the degradation of our Air, Soil, Water and diversity. We are literally eating our planet to death, but this doesn’t have to be the case!
By paying attention to our local biomes around the world we can tailor our farming practices to flow with the natural patterns that best suit the land were we live. Many people all around the world have been practicing this new kind of farming for years now! People like Martin Crawford, Mark Shepard, Sepp Holzer, Geoff Lawton, Bill Molison, Stefan Sobkowiak and many other greats! They all saw that Mother nature is here ready to help, and they all reached out and took her hand!
These kinds of natural farms will take years to establish but once in production it will provide nourishment for decades and with a little care even longer! Now is the time to start implementing farms like this en mass. Just think, some day our children’s children will have a place to sit in the shade and marvel at this wondrous world we call home.
Photo: Cherries in the Forest Garden
Blogpost and photo by Takota Coen – Grass Roots Family Farm (Alberta, Canada) – takota_coen(at)live.com
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This post is entry nr #12 in our #WCA2014 blog competition. The five blogposts with the most and highest votes will receive a signed copy of the book "Trees for Life". The most popular blogpost will get an iPad.
This blogpost received 18 votes, with an average score of 5 (out of a max of 5).
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Poplar based agroforestry (PBAF), in North India, is widely quoted as a successful land use intervention for sustaining farming and generating benefits to the farming community. Spearheading the forestry program in the company which has been and is still the backbone of poplar program, I feel it is an appropriate platform to put up some of its salient features in this blog for the benefit of agroforesters, scientists and other followers.
Indo-gangetic plains of North India are the food bowl of the country. This region is one of the highly productive belt for food grain production and was the torch bearer of green revolution. This revolution undoubtedly secured food for millions of Indians and we have been the food surplus Nation for decades now.
High input intensive agriculture during green revolution deteriorated soil health and stagnated crop productivity. Farm income from agriculture crops has been marginalized with successive increasing production costs. Search for alternative land use led to economically viable integrated PBAF which is often referred as commercial and industrial agroforestry. It is generating remunerative returns (sometimes up to Rs. one lakh/acre/year net returns) to the growers and many innovative partnerships are developing for its extensive culture among landless, land owners, poor and rich peoples. The success is based on introduced Eastern Cottonwood species (Populus deltoides) in new geographical locations where non of the indigenous or introduced poplars have ever existed before this endeavor.
Some states are now recommending and promoting PBAF for diversification from intensive land degrading paddy culture to multifunctional, sustainable and tree-crop integrated stable farm land use production system. It is now meeting the twin objectives of food and wood security in addition to other forestry, environmental, industrial, economical, financial, and rural development applications. Timber production from PBAF is now providing wood security for around 2000 poplar based industrial units manufacturing three dozen products in addition to firewood security for rural inhabitants.
PBAF, through its integrated components of agriculture and tree crops, is maintaining greenery on farm land throughout the year and is a reflection of true evergreen revolution. Poplar has better integration with intercrops on farm land and over dozen agriculture crops are grown in PBAF throughout the retention of trees on farm land. There is some loss in crop production under PBAF which increases with age of trees but is compensated with better returns from sale of trees as cash crops.
The retaining of trees on farm land for providing goods and services has been an age old practice in India. Evolution of PBAF is a recent intervention and it took almost three decades to firmly establish its roots.
The practice of PBAF was initiated during 1970’s when the match company-WIMCO Ltd. started its promotion for securing matchwood production for its factory in Uttar Pradesh, India, with its own resources till 1984 and under contract farming model between 1984 to 1995. Thereafter, poplar saplings and some other technical inputs are also being provided by some others including private nursery growers, state forest departments, research institutes and state agricultural universities but the volume is still controlled by WIMCO and Ex-WIMCOITE’s. WIMCO supplies poplar saplings to around 15000 farmers every year. The company now hardly uses 0.2% of total poplar timber produced for match splints and the rest is used by others.
The industry has adopted this approach and synergy with farmers as it is not permitted to hold land for raising industrial plantations under the existing land laws. Government forests are now largely maintained for environmental services. The major timber supply to industry and domestic needs comes from farm grown trees like poplars.
Farmers prefer to purchase quality saplings from mainly private nurseries and sell their tree produce at market controlled prices. Farmers, many a times, sell their poplar trees through negotiations by sitting in their drawing rooms on standing tree inventory/weight basis compared to most agriculture produce being sold in grain markets. Initially, large and absentee farmers adopted it but now numerous small farmers planting a few dozen saplings are also engaged in PBAF. Some good corporate houses promote its plantations under their corporate social responsibility programs.
Poplar culture is presently spread over 0.312 million ha, 99% of which is grown in agroforestry by over 0.3 million small growers, 60% being inside fields and 40% on field boundaries. Twenty to thirty million poplar saplings are planted annually by around 60000 small growers. Each year, poplar produces 8 million tone fresh timber, 1.8 million tone pulpwood, 3 million tone firewood, and generate over 100 million person days employment largely in rural areas where job opportunities are very less.
Poplar nursery production, tree culture, wood usage, silviculture and tree improvement research is largely in private sector. Research on poplar protection, wood working technology and some other aspects is being carried out by national and state research institutions.
The carbon sequestration potential of poplar based agroforestry is much higher than most other land uses in practice. Some other environmental aspects of excessive water usage and isoprene production by poplars are also being debated by the scientific community.
PBAF is unique example that created win-win situation for all- the farmers, wood based industry, financial institutions, central and state governments. A new useful tree has been firmly established on farm land with a symbiotic relationship between industry and small growers. It is considered a potential mean for rural development by self sustaining productive and integrated land use system without much investment and engagement from government institutions. The success achieved with PBAF is a motivating factor for similar programs initiated in India and elsewhere. It is an ideal example for replication with other species in land deficit, over populated, low land holdings and wood deficit countries like India.
Number of blogs and likely abstracts on poplar based themes quoting experiences of some farmers included in WAC2014 indicate its transformational impact in rural economy.
Photo: Four years old poplar plantation with wheat as intercrop on farm field
Blogpost and photo by Ramesh C.Dhiman – WIMCO Ltd./Wimco Seedlings Division (Rudrapur, Uttarakhand, India) – dhimanramesh(at)yahoomail.com
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This post is entry nr #11 in our #WCA2014 blog competition. The five blogposts with the most and highest votes will receive a signed copy of the book "Trees for Life". The most popular blogpost will get an iPad.
This blogpost received 36 votes, with an average score of 4.5 (out of a max of 5).
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I am Keshav Bansal, M.Phil Public Admin from Bhatinda in Punjab. I worked as lecturer, Principal in rural areas of Punjab, during my 30 year. I aspired a job of doing agriculture in villages.
In our area only paddy-wheat-cotton cycle is there. Water level is going down day by day. Farmers are not ready to change their mind.
I left my job and started searching into a scope of agriculture. During family visits to Haridwar I saw lot of tree plantations in the fields. I visited Yamunagar, Hoshiarpur and FRI Dehradun and went through the system of Agro forestry in Haryana, Punjab and U.P. After calculating profits and scope, I planned to do the same.
After consulting with experts, friends, different farmers and relatives we decided to start a poplar plantatation in Yamunanagar Distt. of Haryana. I prepared a complete project report, refined by the accounting experts and same was put in PNB Bank for Finance.
The project was approved and financed by PNB. We created an Organised OASIS AGROINFRA LTD, acquired 300 acres of land from different farmers on lease for 5-6 years duration and started poplar Plantation in January 2011 along with different inter crops like sugarcane, wheat, maize, zimikand, turmeric, potato, mustard and other suitable crops.
We achieved wonderful growth of poplars and crops. The following year in 2012 we acquire 500 acres of land and planted poplars, eucalyptus there in. We made SELF-HELP Groups and handed over land in small pieces to them for working, caring and supervision of all the fields on sharing basis. We have given work to lot of families, a lot of small farmers and handsome lease to land owners.
Later on after taking land on lease in 2013 we planted poplars in 200 acres. Now in 2014 we are planting poplar trees in 200 acres of land totalling 1200 acres land, this is a lifelong project with handsome income and satisfaction doing creative work which is eco-friendly.
There is a lot of chances to rise in this field and to provide job and work to others. We are maintaining day to day reports and growth progress charts, we have achieved wonderful growth in all our plantations. One can earn minimum 1 lac INR or 1700 USD every year from one acre of land after all the expenses.
We think we are the largest poplar plantation in North India, and we will increase the area every year.
We have our own nurseries of poplars for own use and for sale purpose. We are motivating farmers in Punjab & Haryana to plant trees along with intercrops instead of traditional crops. We supplied poplar baby plants to farmers on concession bases to plant the same in their fields and guide them method of plantation and caring the same.
Every year with the growth of poplar plants different new farmers are contacting us for poplar plantation day by day our network of plantation is increasing. There is a great scope of agro forestry for the farmers, younger’s and other entrepreneurs, those who want to do something, just an effort and confidence is required.
Photo: Oasis Plantation at Klanaur Village – With Keshav Bansal and Mahesh Goyal
Blogpost and photo by Keshav Bansal (Bathinda, Punjab-India) – oasisbtd(at)gmail.com
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This post is entry nr #10 in our #WCA2014 blog competition. The five blogposts with the most and highest votes will receive a signed copy of the book "Trees for Life". The most popular blogpost will get an iPad.
This blogpost received 28 votes, with an average score of 5 (out of a max of 5).
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I woke up early in the morning when light penetrated my eyelids very softly. Uff! It was already 6; I threw my blanket and went outside of my room. I observed my farm from balcony. Meanwhile, my mother yelled me to have breakfast. Thereafter, I went to our farm to bring grasses for cows.
It was easier for me to cut small tree rather than cutting grasses for hours. Therefore, I cut down a small tree. After cutting down, I noticed a nest of bird with eggs which were found to be cracked. That day, cows enjoyed the fodder I brought. At evening, my father told that each cow gave few more milk. Immediately, my mother pointed me and said, it was me who feed the cow and asked me to do every day.
Thereafter, I started to exploit trees of our farm to feed cows and get more milk. After about 3 months, there were no any trees in our farm. The grasses were drying up due to seasonal change and I was compelled to travel hours to fetch fodder.
Hours of struggle just to bring fodder for the livestock, made me frustrated. I was doing all these just for few liters more milk. Therefore, I told mother that I was no longer interested to fetch fodder. Mother asked the reason and asked further that who would feed those cattle if I don’t? I replied her in very occasional manner to hire a guy to take care of her cattle. I’m not a cowboy just looking after cows all the time. I did have my own business, I told her in very ignorant way. There was some discordant between us. My mother slapped me and told never to ignore her as I was only offspring of them.
Milk was not as sweet as before and very little food quenched my hunger that evening. I slept with much tensed mind. It was the first time when my mother slapped me as perhaps it was the very first time I had ever ignored her.
Oh! It was a terrible nightmare. It was just 3 of morning. I tried to sleep but couldn’t. It was almost 6 when I left my bed.
I went to our farm without breakfast and observed those dead stumps made by me. There was like absence of something more important in the field. I thoroughly observed the atmosphere, there was no sweet twittering of birds, I suddenly remembered those cracked bird’s eggs and, there were no rustling movement of leaves as well. The natural worthiness of farm was lost somewhere else and I thought, if I had not cut down all those trees, I wouldn’t have to go for hours just to search for fodder. Suddenly, I realized the productivity of land was slightly declined due to lack of leaf litter composting in the field.
My mom was complaining that she noticed little decline in production of maize this year. Now I realized that the grasses were dried sooner because it was exposed directly to the skin burning sun. Now, I took a determination of making my farm green again because I wanted to increase the productivity and again to hear the sweet sound of birds and rustling movements of leaves. I finally wanted to make my parents happy again by making cows more productive.
I went to visit forest extension officers. I took information about the tree species that can be incorporated in different agricultural systems. The day, I came to know that use of trees in agricultural cultivation in mutual benefit of trees and crops satisfying needs of farmers, is called as agro forestry.. I was an ordinary, rural youth; the term was strange for me and had heard just now although we were practicing it for years. We simply used to call it “Trees in farm”.
The officers provided me some very suitable trees species whose fodder were highly nutritive and were able to improve soil fertility giving economic benefits as well. I planted those trees in the terrace.
The sweet sound of birds, their nest, scene of young birds just starting to fly, movement of leaves delights me. The trees are grown up. When mother told production is augmenting these years, I see a perfect coordination of forestry and agriculture crops. Finally, I start to think, trees are the homes of thousands of creatures helping to increase agricultural production. They feed us as well. Trees provide us oxygen, absorb atmospheric carbon dioxide and ultimately assist us to be healthy.
Both tangible and intangible goods and services are provided by trees. Not only the direct benefits but also the indirect benefits of trees are quite important for a sustainable world. The tangible benefits can be converted into monetary values but intangible benefits can’t be expressed into exact monetary term. In the context of changing development pattern with changing geopolitics and economies, agroforestry has huge potentiality to reduce the increasing gap between demand and supply. It helps to reduce poverty by providing a better chance of agribusiness and livestock farming. In addition, by sequestering carbon it helps to mitigate climate change, it also helps to ease pressure on forests. Such farming system improves water quality by avoiding nitrate leaching. Therefore, It helps to attain overall human well-being.
Agro-forestry is potential to play very vital role in changing context of resource use and economic enhancement. It also helps to preserve biodiversity and maintain food security which is very important in present context.
Therefore, trees are our life because we exist if our woody friends, trees exist.
Photo: Nepal is a least developed country whose economy is sustained mainly by agriculture and forestry. Therefore, scientific agroforestry system can transform Nepal into a prosperous country.
Photo and blogpost by Dhiroj Prasad Koirala (Pokhara, Nepal) – Koirala1dhiroj(at)gmail.com
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This post is entry nr #9 in our #WCA2014 blog competition. The five blogposts with the most and highest votes will receive a signed copy of the book "Trees for Life". The most popular blogpost will get an iPad.
This blogpost received 342 votes, with an average score of 5 (out of a max of 5).
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Please be advised that the Congress has obtained the requisite ministerial permissions from the Government of India, namely, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Delhi State Government and the Ministry of External Affairs (M.E.A). A copy of the permissions is hosted on the Congress website and can be viewed here. You are requested to download the same and apply for your Indian VISA in your respective countries. The list of Indian High Commissions is available here. Note the application requirements may vary for different countries.
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A helpline has been created w.e.f 20th January 2014 functional from Monday through Friday 0930 to 1830 hrs (IST +530hrs GMT). Helpline number – +91-124-4974173
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The M.E.A permission as you would notice carries certain names from the Delegate attendee list for WCA. Please do not panic if you don’t find your name in there. Your name has been submitted to the M.E.A and is under their internal verification process. This should not affect your VISA application and we urge you to go ahead with applying your VISA at the earliest.
Whilst a Conference Visa is suggested to be applied for, delegates who have booked field trips may also apply for a Tourist Visa as this may be faster, being careful not to mention Conference but Touristic purposes as the reason for travel.
I grew up with a big garden. The growing season in Sweden is short, but my mother was passionate about planting flowers and testing new varieties; we also had lots of fruits and berries, and as a child, I loved to pick them and eat them – and to earn pocket money doing yard work.
I went on to become a geographer, and after the 2004 tsunami, I found myself in Sri Lanka, studying the storm’s effects on vegetation. During my visit, I discovered the local approach to “homegardens”: small, densely planted spaces with flowers, food crops and trees in multiple layers, creating complete mini-ecosystems. I was half a world away from my mother’s garden, yet the beauty and tranquility of the gardens, and the self-sufficiency they provide, took me back to my childhood.
The colours in Sri Lankan homegardens are rich and bright, and the hot, heavy air is filled with sweet scents, sometimes spiced with the aromas of meals being cooked in the families’ kitchens. The lush vegetation attracts birds, butterflies, lizards and monkeys, and if you close your eyes, especially in wet-region gardens, the wildlife sounds could make you think you’re in the rainforest.
Yet these gardens are not grown for the aesthetics alone. They provide fresh, organic, nutrient-rich food – a huge benefit to the families – and fuelwood as well. The gardens are also extraordinary in terms of biodiversity: though most include at least a few coconut, mango, banana and papaya trees, I’ve found all sorts of other plant and tree species in the gardens of rich and poor people alike. That’s part of the thrill of visiting Sri Lankan homegardens: you never know what flora or fauna you may encounter.
From a research perspective, I see these homegardens as prime examples of multifunctional landscapes: spaces that combine agriculture, forestry and natural ecosystems. The “landscape approach” is gaining prominence as a more holistic – and effective – approach to food security, reforestation and overall sustainability than the single-sector interventions that have long prevailed in the development world. I strongly support that approach, but if it is to succeed, we need to start by realizing that people in Sri Lanka and many other countries have long built multifunctional landscapes. Yet modern agriculture, forestry and development practices have driven a shift to often-unsustainable, single-use landscapes.
My research focuses on the role of land-use change and forestry in climate change mitigation and adaptation, with an emphasis on conservation, sustainable management of forests, enhancement of forest carbon stocks, and reduction of emissions from deforestation and land degradation. In that context, I have explored ways for Sri Lanka to realize its climate change mitigation and adaptation potential in the land use and forestry sector, including potential REDD+ activities.
My latest study, which I will be presenting at the World Congress on Agroforestry, examines the role that homegardens in meeting Sri Lanka’s climate-related goals – and, in turn, how climate programmes such as REDD+ could encourage more families to grow gardens, or expand existing gardens. To gauge homegardens’ carbon storage capacity, we visited 45 dry-zone homegardens in two villages in Moneragala district, in southeastern Sri Lanka, and documented the types and sizes of trees on each property – a total of 4,278 trees of 73 species. We calculated the above-ground biomass stock and found it averaged 13 Mg carbon (C) ha-1 – but with huge variations: an average of 26 Mg C ha-1 in the 11 small gardens we sampled (under 0.2 ha), versus 8 Mg C ha-1 in the seven gardens over 1 ha that we sampled (mid-size gardens’ carbon stocks were similar to those of large ones).
Our analysis provides two key insights: First of all, homegardens clearly have great capacity for carbon storage and could make good candidates for Sri Lanka’s newly commenced UN-REDD National Programme. Second, tree density and species diversity make a big difference; the small gardens had much higher carbon storage per hectare than large ones because they were far more densely planted.
In our study area in particular, conditions may be particularly suitable for increasing homegardens. Large-scale infrastructure developments and investments in the area are driving up population density, increasing the need for efficient food production. And a water storage tank is being built that could support irrigation as needed, making it easier for farmers and homegardeners to plant more trees and perennials of different varieties, enhancing the carbon density and biodiversity of the land while also improving food security.
More broadly, Sri Lanka may also want to consider promoting homegarden establishment on lands adjoining the remaining natural forests, creating buffers in areas that are experiencing pressure from increasing populations. For best outcomes at the local level, schemes such as REDD+ could be linked to existing or emerging development programmes, highlighting food security and market integration – both of which are likely to be greater priorities for farmers than climate change mitigation.
Eskil Mattsson is a post-doctoral fellow at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden, and a theme leader of Focali, a Swedish research network focused on forests, climate and livelihoods. He will present his work at a WCA session on tropical homegardens on 10 February.
Photo: Example of a wet-region homegarden
Blogpost and photo by Eskil Mattsson (Stockholm, Sweden) – eskil.mattsson(at)chalmers.se
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This post is entry nr #8 in our #WCA2014 blog competition. The five blogposts with the most and highest votes will receive a signed copy of the book "Trees for Life". The most popular blogpost will get an iPad.
This blogpost received 86 votes, with an average score of 4.5 (out of a max of 5).
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For countries located in the arid, semi arid and mountainous parts of the world, like my country Eritrea; cutting trees and clearing forests to create farmlands seems the only option to feed the population. Although the approach sustains the food security of the population for a short time, the merciless cutting and destruction of forest resources have resulted in environmental degradation and expansion of desertification. Land is exposed to erosion and the fertile part of the soil has been depleted.
Therefore to combat this alarming situation and having realized the precarious conditions of the environment different sectors of government have been involving in a strategy of seizing farmlands from the population and reforest them. Still this approach meets a strong opposition from the population whose live hood is completely dependent on farming. It seems as if there is no way in collaborating the need of the population and nature.
The spark of Enlightenment
Two years ago, I visited my mother’s village in Obel, a farming village of recently cleared forests. Fortunately for me there was a village assembly going on. The villager’s discontent with the recent policy of the government to seize their farmlands and reforest it was clear on their faces, voices and speeches. There was an environmentalist- a technocrat- who gives a long scientific speech on conservation and environmental awareness that is not understood by anyone -except a fellow environmentalist, that is me.
The villagers were quite, bored and some of them sleepy. It was not until their turn to speak that the uproar began. A much respected elderly stands and start to speak; he says “We love our trees and forests! We live in it for generations! It is a source of food, firewood and security for us! But we also need farmlands to feed our children! Human life is more important than trees! You are trying to value trees more than our life…… and broke in tears.
What happens after that is a murmur, some wailing and crying. I can imagine the plight of the villagers and I can’t stop agreeing with the environmental expert. I vow to myself there has to be a solution to the dilemma. There has to be some way through, to conserve the environment and at the same time to satisfy the farmers.
A way through
Later on I come up with a strategy of, planting multipurpose species. This is because planting multipurpose species will provide the assurance of growth, an economic benefit and environmental sustainability. My mind goes to Aloe, a species that has been demonstrated it’s multipurpose for centuries. Most Aloes have some medicinal or commercial value, but it is the Aloe Barbadensis Miller (Aloe vera or “true Aloe”) plant which has been of most use to mankind because of its multiple benefits. Cultivation of Aloe vera has a multiple objectives that include Health benefits, productive and social welfare benefits, soil and water conservation, environmental Provision and Tourism. It is one of the most versatile plants in the surface of the Earth.
For those with a little interest in plants, Aloe vera is a perennial, species of Aloe, native to Africa. This species is now popular both with modern gardeners and commercial farmers. I am sure you will have it in your garden, shampoo or some other cosmetics. Next time you are using a plant-extract cosmetic product, please look for Aloe vera in the ingredients.
I choose Aloe vera not only because it is simple to grow, but also it is a native crop that grows naturally in most parts of the country, including my mother’s village. Eritrea has the right climatic conditions, diverse ecology, an arable land and concerned government sectors to carry out successful Aloe vera plantation. The Aloe vera can be cultivated in hillsides and mountains, around coastal areas, in community closures and in modern farms. If we effectively utilize this plant we will be one of the greatest producers in the regional and international markets where the demand is sky rocketing.
Why do I launch this project?
My primary objective of this project was to meddle between humans and the environment -what a peace keeper. My other objective was my country Eritrea, a country that has been damaged by long term colonialism, war for independence and natural problems. I owe too much to the people and a country that provides me a free education in which otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to afford. My project is a contribution: in addition to the promise held by the Eritrean people and government to heal this damage –another lame excuse to launch my scientific research.
The result
My project was an instant success, as long as the villagers promised to reforest the degraded land the village administration and the National government agreed to give the people their seized land. At the same time the people start to reap the benefits of the plants. This year they sold their first cultivation to the market. Now everybody has his farmland and a fat amount of money in their pocket and they don’t have the wrenched face that I have seen during that memorable day of village assembly. I become a local hero in my mother’s village and my trips to that village become constant and pleasant– everyone wants to invite me to his house.
The future
I am planning to introduce this project to the wider community. There is a constant discussion with the policy and decision makers of the government to implement the project nationwide. The future of the project is to reduce poverty by exposing farmers to Aloe vera farming and its value addition for income generating and poverty alleviation within the semi arid lands of Eritrea.
Now for people who only knows Gold can be found only inside earth, they have a reason to call Aloe Vera “The Green Gold”.
Blogpost and photo by Angesom Ghebremeskel Teklu (Asmara, Eritrea) – angesomteklu(at)gmail.com
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This post is entry nr #7 in our #WCA2014 blog competition. The five blogposts with the most and highest votes will receive a signed copy of the book "Trees for Life". The most popular blogpost will get an iPad.
This blogpost received 4,809 votes, with an average score of 5 (out of a max of 5).
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Two years ago the family Phang borrowed money to buy cattle. Then came a harsh winter and only one cow survived.
With the advent of increasingly intense weather events, adapting to climate change in Southeast Asia is more important than ever. But policymakers and scientists depend on farmers’ knowledge to guide them when it comes to adaptation. After all, farmers have been adapting to changing weather for generations. The question is how can we fuse local and scientific knowledge so that farmers have the best options available to them to adapt to a changing climate?
A key factor in answering this question is making local knowledge more visible. And this is where unique participatory exercises can play a big part in guiding discussions with farmers, brainstorming, and letting them have their say.
By these exercises, we mean outlines for structured discussions which help farmers and scientists jointly brainstorm problems and solutions. We call the exercises ”tools”, hence the Toolkit.
Mix and match
When brainstorming what trees to plant where, the most appreciated exercise by farmers and local planners) is the tree-climate-ranking tool. Farmers first listed the extreme weather events they thought were most problematic. Cold spells killing rice seedlings and livestock. Storms damaging trees and houses. Droughts and floodings reducing harvests and bringing more pests. Then they discussed and ranked the suitability of each tree and crop they grow against each weather events. The resulting table gave a clear picture and explanations for how sensitive their crops and trees are.
Doing this exercise helped farmers mix plants and trees that are not all sensitive to the same type of weather. For example, farmers knew very well that planting trees with different heights reduces wind speeds and prevents grain crops from falling down (lodging). They knew that planting bamboo on slopes cushions against landslides and that intercropping legumes with maize or cassava improves soil fertility and soil moisture. This is what agroforesters call “the interaction effects” of trees. Agricultural technicians who recommend new climate-smart land uses can therefore easily use the same principles pointed out by farmers, making it easier for farmers to work out what they want to try and plant. Scientists and policymakers can combine the village matrices to suggest adaption strategies for larger areas.
Who knows best
Returning to the village map, we sat down and looked where weather-related risks were high. The table was used as a guide to find new combinations of trees and crops that could reduce the impacts of a landslide or strong winds, not only in one field but also in neighboring fields. Designing these “climate-smart” agroforestry systems, the women quickly transferred the ideas of multiple canopy layers, inspired by their home gardens with tall fruit trees, some crops or bushes and shade-tolerant crops near ground.
This simple method, the tree-ranking table therefore became a bridge to show where there were disagreements – between local and scientific knowledges or between farmers and planners. Do women and men rate the suitability of trees differently? Do people who live at the bottom of the valley consider the same trees sensitive as those who live at the top? Why so? Do local leaders rank the same way as the farmers? We did the same tree-ranking exercise with the local land-use planners. Interestingly, they did not always have the same idea as farmers about how sensitive certain trees and crops were. Sometimes they thought that the drought risks were lower compared to farmers. So, just as the exercise can highlight differences between different groups it provides an opportunity for knowledge exchange.
Best bet
Often we (scientists, practitioners) enter the villages and don’t know where to start or how much farmers already know to start at the appropriate level. A few hours with a few of these exercises can give a quick picture of the existing challenges and the responses. Group discussions where all participants are able to talk freely can also help clear potential misunderstandings.
However, just running a series of group discussions is not a magic bullet. In our case they helped formulating more appropriate household questionnaires and running a dialogue about land use planning between villagers and local leaders. This is one way to find the right trees for the right place. Had Phang’s family known that planting strips with fodder grasses beside the trees could have prevented malnourishment, they might have still have had all their cows and paid back the loan.
Photos:
1: Farmers and extension workers discussing the suitability of trees during problematic weather situations.
2: A table showing the suitability of trees (green is good and red is bad) averaged for nine villages in a district.
The Toolkit was developed for a land-use planning project funded by CGIARs Research Programs on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) and Forests,Trees and Agroforestry (FTA).
Blogpost and photos by: Elisabeth Simelton, Climate Change Consultant, World Agroforestry Centre Viet Nam – e.simelton (at) cgiar.org.
Edited by: Georgina Smith, CIAT Viet Nam
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This post is entry nr #6 in our #WCA2014 blog competition. The five blogposts with the most and highest votes will receive a signed copy of the book "Trees for Life". The most popular blogpost will get an iPad.
This blogpost received 99 votes, with an average score of 5 (out of a max of 5).
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Charcoal stoves, or “Jikos” (as they are known in Kiswahili), are an essential part of Kenyan cooking, from beans to chicken masala and from roasted maize to all kinds of roasted meat. In 1982, Dr. Maxwell Miringu Kinyanjui, made the initial prototype of the “Kenya Ceramic Jiko” and over time invented other energy efficient jiko designs including ovens and barbeques. For example, the Cookswell Charcoal Oven eliminates dependence on electricity or gas for all household cooking needs. This can translate into reducing energy bills by up to 70% through switching to charcoal. Given the high demand and use of Jikos, switching to an efficiently designed Jiko saves time, money and forests.
In 2007, Dr. Kinyanjui’s son, Teddy Kinyanjui, perfected the design for the Charcoal Drum Kiln. This kiln provides users with a simple, sustainable way to make charcoal without cutting down trees. Promoting the use of this kiln completes the Cookswell philosophy as illustrated by the “Seed-to-Ash Cycle”. The Seed to Ash Cycle shows how trees and biomass can be managed responsibly to ensure the protection of Kenya’s forests. Indeed, the correct management and utilization of trees is the key to promoting an environmentally friendly energy solution for East Africa.
It is easy to participate in the seed-to-ash cycle by growing more trees, harvesting only the branches without cutting the whole tree down, and using energy-saving stoves.
Knowledge building
Cookswell Jikos is unique in that its daily business operations provide many opportunities for collaborating with community members, organizations and other businesses involved in the green energy sector. For example, the Cookswell team regularly provides demonstrations and training for products at a variety of venues including horticultural society meetings, farmer’s markets, international trade shows, and student gatherings. The Cookswell Jikos team actively participates in academic forums and to share its latest findings, access and discuss new information provided by others. For example, the Cookswell team recently began successfully experimenting with (a) reducing the amount of emissions from charcoal production in the Cookswell drum kilns, and (b) condensing and recovering as much of the smoke into a usable product for home/farm use (known as Stockholm or wood tar). According to the FAO, wood tar serves as a useful vetinary antiseptic and wood preservative. Regular updates on the process of capturing this wood tar have been shared with colleagues in the renewable energy sector for feedback and collaboration.
Community participation and inclusiveness
The Cookswell approach is to incorporate customer and user feedback into product design improvements as much as possible. The team actively solicits customers’ experiences with using the stoves, ovens, kilns, and planting trees. When customers find unique applications for Cookswell products, the team works to stay engaged and provide support where needed for these applications. For example, customers have started to use the Cookswell drum kilns to make large batches of alternative biomass charcoal (maize cob and coconut) for domestic use. Cookswell remains involved in providing feedback and assistance during these processes. Successful mobilization of local interest has been generated through staging demonstrations of Cookswell products at events such as farmer’s markets and trade shows.
Political ownership, collaboration and approval
The Cookswell Team actively participates in forums to provide policy input in the biomass stove sector. For example, Cookswell is an active contributor to the Energy Regulatory Committee and the Kenya Bureau of Standards in an effort to develop nationwide regulations for improved stoves in Kenya. In addition, Cookswell works closely with the Woodlands 2000 Trust to provide regular information and feedback to the Kenya Forest Service about ongoing progress with demonstration woodlots and tree planting activities.
Financial sustainability
Cookswell Jikos is a for-profit entity generating profits from product sales and consulting services. A portion of the profits is allocated towards covering the costs of providing two hundred free tree seeds to each customer with every oven and charcoal drum kiln purchase. Going forward, Cookswell will continue to build its customer base and strategically manage funds to ensure strong continuation of tree planting activities, expansion of wood energy technologies, and sustaining the growth of the company. Cookswell is proud to be 100% Kenyan owned and operated with a hard working team making quality, self-sustaining products. With a loyal and expanding customer base, Cookswell looks forward to expanding its agroforestry and stove activities.
Building local capacity
Cookswell Jikos is based on a model that places great value on incorporating outside ideas, innovations and the wealth of local capacity in Kenya. The following examples demonstrate how outside participation is valued and incorporated: (i) Cookswell provides linkages between new and experienced product users to facilitate knowledge and experience sharing; (ii) The team’s approach is to respond to training requests and needs both through the provision of comprehensive user instructions for all products, and hands on demonstrations of all the uses of the products.
Transferable
Currently, Cookswell Jikos focuses on serving the East African market. While partnerships are underway to export products beyond East Africa, manufacturing is centred in Kenya. The business model is one that can be replicated anywhere where materials and labour exist to manufacture the products, which includes most of sub-Saharan Africa.
Monitoring and evaluation
In addition to standard business practices for measuring revenue, profit and loss, etc., Cookswell Jikos maintains strong communication with its customer base to ensure that products are being used successfully and are providing the intended benefits. Team meetings and discussions with stakeholders (e.g. partners implementing tree planting projects) ensure that evaluation of overall business objectives and goals is undertaken on a monthly basis to assess progress made towards meeting milestones. The Cookswell team also works closely with the Woodlands 2000 Trust to monitor progress and impact regarding the relationship between charcoal production and forest management.
Blogpost and photo by Teddy Kinyanjui (Nairobi, Kenya) – cookswelljikos(at)gmail.com
With thanks from to African Climate for the original interview.
Post originally published on Kenyan Charcoal
Note by the editor: On this blog, we publish private initiatives in the framework of forestry and agroforestry, like the post above. This does not mean the conference nor its partners promote or endorse these projects.
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This post is entry nr #5 in our #WCA2014 blog competition. The five blogposts with the most and highest votes will receive a signed copy of the book "Trees for Life". The most popular blogpost will get an iPad.
This blogpost received 15 votes, with an average score of 4.5 (out of a max of 5).
Follow our #WCA2014 social reporting teamfollow our social reporting team via the #WCA2014 tag on Twitter, our blog and our Facebook page.
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Don’t we all like the brownish pieces of bitter-sweet goods that melt on our tongues like a state of the art bowl of ice cream? Utterly demanding for producers, a logistical masterpiece for traders, unimaginably technical yet highly creative for chocolatiers; chocolate has the seducing power to blow the mind of the masses.
Problems with sustainability
However amazing our fantasies around chocolate may be, the world of chocolate is facing a big threat related to sustainability; In other words: the sustainable supply of the raw material, the cocoa beans needed to produce chocolate goods, is at stake. The fragile tree Theobroma cacao L., taken from its natural environment, the dense humid Amazon rainforest, and placed into full sunlight on extensive monocultures in West Africa and beyond, is exhausted. The sudden exposure of the trees to a rate of photosynthesis they had never known before overstrained them. Just like a mouse you put into an exercise wheel, they went full speed to produce unsustainably high yields for a rather short period of time compared to their natural life span. But there are two sides to every coin: While the sustainability of cocoa production is at stake worldwide, population rich countries like India and China are driving up the demand as they become prosperous.
Meanwhile, the industry has become aware of the threat to their business and producing cocoa in a sustainable manner is high on the agenda of big players such as Mars. Yet there are still many important questions left unanswered: What is the best form of producing cocoa sustainably? How much shade do the novel varieties (some of which might have been bred for tolerance of high light intensities) still need or tolerate? What are suitable shade trees? What other problems might arise in shaded agroforestry systems with higher relative humidity (e.g. pests and diseases) and are there practicable solutions to them? And perhaps most importantly: how long does it take until an agroforestry system catches up with a monoculture (and what is the contribution of cocoa by-products to compensate for the lower cocoa yields in the first decade or so)? These question need to be resolved for policy makers to know what incentive it takes to make farmers produce cocoa in sustainable agroforestry systems. As nice side effects they would help in the conservation of biodiversity, sequester substantial amounts of carbon and thus help in climate change mitigation, etc.
After all, novel technologies that don’t get adopted by farmers do not change anything, even if excited researchers developed them with the best of intentions in order to contribute to the resolution of the problem.
Research addressing the problem
Science has to provide information on advantages and limitations of different cocoa production systems. However, data on the long-term performance of cocoa monocultures as well as agroforestry systems under conventional and organic management are inexistent. The Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) is pioneering to fill this knowledge gap with a unique long-term field trial in tropical Bolivia established in 2008. Collaborating institution include Ecotop Consult, the Institute of Ecology UMSA La Paz and the PIAF-El Ceibo Foundation. The trial is expected to run for a minimum period of 20 years and will provide indications on the long-term sustainability of the different systems.
First results are matching the expectations; significantly slower tree development and lower yields, but also less disease incidences in agroforestry systems compared to monocultures. How much the additional products harvested in agroforestry systems (e.g. plantain, cassava, pineapple) can compensate for the lower yields remains to be seen.
Photo: Producers, extension officers, scientists and students participating in a training course on sustainable cocoa production in agroforestry systems at the research and training centre Sara Ana, Alto Beni, Bolivia.
Blogpost and photo by Christian Andres/FiBL (Frick, Switzerland) – christian.andres(at)fibl.org
This post is entry nr #4 in our #WCA2014 blog competition. The five blogposts with the most and highest votes will receive a signed copy of the book “Trees for Life”. The most popular blogpost will get an iPad. This blogpost received 178 votes, with an average score of 5 (out of a max of 5). If you have questions or remarks on the project described in this post, please leave a comment below. Please also rate the other blogcompetition entries! Follow our #WCA2014 social reporting teamfollow our social reporting team via the #WCA2014 tag on Twitter, our blog and our Facebook page. |
Farmers producing small quantities of a particular crop or tree product face the challenge of selling it at fair prices, and one effective way to improve matters is ‘collective action’ for marketing. If done right, much can be gained in terms of increased income and food security when smallholder farmers come together and pool their harvest, selling it in bulk.
Nonetheless, collective action in marketing, particularly for small-scale farmers in Africa, is not as simple as it seems at first glance, as a new article shows. The review, published in the journal Current Opinions on Environmental Sustainability, synthesizes some of the lessons learned over two decades of implementing collective action, and provides some pointers for success.
Collective action has been defined as “Group activities that directly or indirectly enhance the production and marketing of agricultural and food products…” and “Action by members of a group or cooperative who come together to share market knowledge, sell together and develop business opportunities.”
Click here for the full article
Farmers producing small quantities of a particular crop or tree product face the challenge of selling it at fair prices, and one effective way to improve matters is ‘collective action’ for marketing. If done right, much can be gained in terms of increased income and food security when smallholder farmers come together and pool their harvest, selling it in bulk.
Nonetheless, collective action in marketing, particularly for small-scale farmers in Africa, is not as simple as it seems at first glance, as a new article shows. The review, published in the journal Current Opinions on Environmental Sustainability, synthesizes some of the lessons learned over two decades of implementing collective action, and provides some pointers for success.
Collective action has been defined as “Group activities that directly or indirectly enhance the production and marketing of agricultural and food products…” and “Action by members of a group or cooperative who come together to share market knowledge, sell together and develop business opportunities.”
– See more at: http://blog.worldagroforestry.org/index.php/2014/01/09/unity-is-strength-in-marketing-smallholder-agroforestry-produce#sthash.ywmwX3Xc.dpuf
Farmers producing small quantities of a particular crop or tree product face the challenge of selling it at fair prices, and one effective way to improve matters is ‘collective action’ for marketing. If done right, much can be gained in terms of increased income and food security when smallholder farmers come together and pool their harvest, selling it in bulk.
Nonetheless, collective action in marketing, particularly for small-scale farmers in Africa, is not as simple as it seems at first glance, as a new article shows. The review, published in the journal Current Opinions on Environmental Sustainability, synthesizes some of the lessons learned over two decades of implementing collective action, and provides some pointers for success.
Collective action has been defined as “Group activities that directly or indirectly enhance the production and marketing of agricultural and food products…” and “Action by members of a group or cooperative who come together to share market knowledge, sell together and develop business opportunities.”
– See more at: http://blog.worldagroforestry.org/index.php/2014/01/09/unity-is-strength-in-marketing-smallholder-agroforestry-produce#sthash.ywmwX3Xc.dpuf
Farmers producing small quantities of a particular crop or tree product face the challenge of selling it at fair prices, and one effective way to improve matters is ‘collective action’ for marketing. If done right, much can be gained in terms of increased income and food security when smallholder farmers come together and pool their harvest, selling it in bulk.
Nonetheless, collective action in marketing, particularly for small-scale farmers in Africa, is not as simple as it seems at first glance, as a new article shows. The review, published in the journal Current Opinions on Environmental Sustainability, synthesizes some of the lessons learned over two decades of implementing collective action, and provides some pointers for success.
Collective action has been defined as “Group activities that directly or indirectly enhance the production and marketing of agricultural and food products…” and “Action by members of a group or cooperative who come together to share market knowledge, sell together and develop business opportunities.”
– See more at: http://blog.worldagroforestry.org/index.php/2014/01/09/unity-is-strength-in-marketing-smallholder-agroforestry-produce#sthash.ywmwX3Xc.dpuf
When the company he worked for was celebrating lavish annual function at Goa, India my husband Gaurav Chaudhary was bringing 20 calves from outskirts of Delhi to the deep interiors of Uttar Pradesh where he is actively engaged in Agroforestry, Dairy and Agribusiness.
Gaurav, post graduated in Economics from prestigious Delhi School of Economics in 2006, worked for few months as an economic analyst with WNS Global Services and quit his high profile job for farming. Having grown up in farming family he knew how much an educated youth like him could contribute to farming community and village if they work with full enthusiasm and determination in agriculture.
My father in law Chaudhary Veerpal Singh was the first person in the village to plant Poplar trees on farm in 1987 when West India Match Company launched an extensive campaign in North India to motivate farmers to adopt poplar based agroforestry as the local matchwood and timber companies were facing acute shortage of supply of wood. Since this was new to farmers and required a waiting period of 7 years farmers were reluctant to plant it. “ I thought it to be my responsibility to promote trees on farms as it would not only save our forests from being cut but also benefit our environment in long run”, recalls Chaudhary Veerpal Singh.
Gaurav had seen his farmer father Chaudhary Veerpal Singh working hard throughout the year to take best yields of crops so that he could be educated. “ In school only I had decided that after completing my higher studies I will go back to my village and get involved in farming , modernize agriculture and improve attitude and perception of people towards this very important sector of our economy.”
Gaurav ‘s passion for farming and for rural India inspired me too and after completing my MSC Business Economics from University Of Surrey , London I married him in 2011. Both of us are thoroughly enjoying our work and it gives us immense satisfaction that with our intelligence, good education background we are actually transforming our village. We raise very good poplar plantations on farm, guide farmers on right practices of growing poplar, eucalyptus trees and other crops. With good returns from trees and crops we are continuously growing in related areas as well. We are expanding our dairy farm where we rear H.F cows and sell milk in city. Dairy and agriculture go very well together. Farmer can earn daily from milk by selling it and make their soil rich by adding cow dung. In order to improve farmers know how on running successful dairy farm we have also set up an association called Progressive Dairy Farmers Association, U.P wherein regular meetings with Dairy experts are conducted.
Our Journey from agriculture to agroforestry, from agroforestry to Dairy Enterprise and further to Agro inputs business shows endless opportunities for growth and innovation offered by Agriculture. I and my husband are earning more in agriculture than we could have earned in Corporate.
Farming needs intelligence, good know-how, and lot of professionalism to carry complex agricultural operations. We need to change our attitude and perception towards farming and I request youth to come up with green thumb and not to underestimate farming. Agriculture has the potential to provide them with not only very good income but also the chance to transform rural India.
Seeing us many farmers in the region started planting poplar on their farms. Small farmers plant poplar and eucalyptus on boundary while large farmers plant block plantations of poplar trees and grow intercrops underneath which ensure them annual returns. They are further diversifying to Dairy and Poultry farming. They now feel proud of their work and realize how much they can grow if they work with sincerity on their farms.
Not to forget poplar based agroforestry has improved lives of farmers with its higher returns, provided security against crop failures due to extreme weather and climatic conditions; reduced regular engagement and attendance on high input intensive culture of other crops and provided financial stability to farmers. Higher returns from agroforestry facilitated farmers to give their children best education. It has opened an avenue for youth to grow in agriculture.
The Net Present Value of returns from poplar agroforestry per acre per year (1 acre = 0.4 hectare) turns out to be USD 2000 compared to just USD 491 from paddy- wheat rotation the traditional agriculture practice followed in this Pilibhit, U.P. Poplar has become popular among farmers as it is ready for harvest in 6 years, allows intercropping with it, meets fuel wood requirement of farmers, needs less management compared to other farming practices. Agroforestry is to some extent also playing a positive role in reigniting the love of youth for farming which is also very important if we’re to meet the challenge of feeding 9 billion people by 2050.
I request educated youth to come back to their roots and give shade to many people who have worked hard in fields day and night to feed them. Youth can transform rural India with its great determination and hence make tremendous contribution to society and environment.
Photo: Nikki and Gaurav Chaudhary (center) and their staff on their farm’s poplar tree plot
Blogpost and photo by Nikki Pilania Chaudhary/Chaudhary Farms (Pilibhit,India) – chaudharyfarms(at)gmail.com
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This post is entry nr #3 in our #WCA2014 blog competition. The five blogposts with the most and highest votes will receive a signed copy of the book "Trees for Life". The most popular blogpost will get an iPad.
This blogpost received 1,229 votes, with an average score of 5 (out of a max of 5).
Follow our #WCA2014 social reporting teamfollow our social reporting team via the #WCA2014 tag on Twitter, our blog and our Facebook page.
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The holidays are gone and I am back to the city from my home village. I come from a very remote village in Central Kenya called Bush, where I was the first and still the only female graduate. I am regarded the most bright and fortunate lady and therefore expected to know everything written in books and have as much money as everyone would require.
As usual, am expected to dish out “Christmas” gifts to women, who will often visit home to say hello to me and to children, who will nickname me “Auntie”, a costly name indeed. However, these are not the only expectations; as a holder of a basic degree in forestry, I am expected to know everything about trees and especially exotic tree species.
One evening, a neighbour visits home. She has a small plantation of cypress (Cuppressus Lusitanica) on her farm, which has had retarded growth in the past several years. She is not the only one, as a second neighbour approaches me because his “South African” eucalyptus plantation, which he was told would be mature in 10 years since the time of planting, is not doing well. He may not reap the profits as promised. Others want to know what crops and trees they could plant in order to reap bounty harvests and market without hitches.
I take a walk to the cypress plantation; the trees were planted using the same spacing as potatoes, which is the most common crop in the area. No pruning was done either. I therefore advise her to prune and thin the plantation, which she expects to sell later for timber. To the Eucalyptus plantation farmer, I also advise him to space his trees as they were less than a meter apart. The plantation is actually a mixture of E.saligna, E.grandis and E. campanulata. It then got me thinking; “from where did the two farmers obtain information before investing in their plantations if they ever did? If not, from where were they expected to obtain advice? The best answer could be; “they are supposed to obtain advice from forest extension officers but most probably they obtain it from seedling dealers”. The problem was simply misinformation.
The two farmers in my village are a reflection of the scanty information accessible to the very people who are the reason for research and the reason for this congress. It is also a reflection of how much farmers are willing to invest in agroforestry, with the hope of returns on investment. I therefore feel obliged to not only conduct research on trees but also address the issue of research communication. Communication challenges are often taken advantage of by middlemen and companies, which dictate prices to farmers, buy their products at throw away prices and fail to provide correct information.
What could be done?
To ensure increased and diverse access to information, I imagined of a communication tool or system that matches tree species with sites and management options, simple enough to be understood and used by semi-illiterate persons, and flexible enough to provide diverse information as well as get updated with the most recent information on trees. This tool could also be linked to potential markets for products, thus minimizing the impacts of middlemen. Such a tool could work a great deal to lift the lives of my village folks and others around the globe in such scotching poverty. As Pablo Picasso said, “Everything you can imagine is real”; I therefore believe this could become a reality too.
Photo: Kenyan farmer and extension officer inspect tree nursery
Blogpost by Caroline Gathoni (Nairobi/Kenya) – cgmumbi(at)gmail.com
Photo by Peter Casier/CCAFS
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This post is entry nr #2 in our #WCA2014 blog competition. The five blogposts with the most and highest votes will receive a signed copy of the book "Trees for Life". The most popular blogpost will get an iPad.
This blogpost received 35 votes, with an average score of 4.5 (out of a max of 5).
Follow our #WCA2014 social reporting teamfollow our social reporting team via the #WCA2014 tag on Twitter, our blog and our Facebook page.
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Indian farmer Om Prakash Shukul began planting trees on his farm after following an awareness programme on agroforestry in his community. He was more than happy to talk about his fruit tree-planting activities during an interview:
“I earn from the crop yields as well as by selling mangoes. I am very happy with the results,” he says in the below video.
Om Prakash hopes to earn an income from the mangoes for the next few years, and has in addition planted guava as a security, should his crops fail. By diversifying his farm and adopting this 'climate-smart' intervention, he feels better prepared to cope with erratic weather events and the challenges from the changing climate. And he is also earning an income along the way.
Growing mangoes has really impacted his life in a positive way, he explained during the making of the video.
Click here for the full article
I lived in San Isidro, Venezuela in 2013 to investigate reasons why farmers plant trees despite the common belief that trees interfered with their crops. Locals say their communities were founded hundreds of years ago by families travelling the Andes with Venezuelan Independence hero Simon Bolivar. These families developed a deep knowledge of the land and had once thrived as farmers.
I was interested in defining factors that predicted smallholder tree planting so that support services could improve programs that promote tree cover in the area. According to studies on Forest Transition, smallholder tree-based land systems notably contribute to global tree cover (Lambin and Meyfroidt 2010). Research also confirms that trees contribute to food security, secure tenure, climate mitigation and overall healthier communities. My research interests were driven by the idea of multifunctional landscapes. Can we manage land for food, income, communities and the ecosystem?
Farming in San Isidro
My neighbour made crashing noises as she described the landslides that destroyed land and homes in 2005. Many farmers realized that tree cover could have reduced the destruction. Since then, Venezuela’s government has invested in technicians who instruct farmers to plant trees. The government also manages several reforestation programs that hand out trees, establish local nurseries, and run education programs to promote tree planting.
San Isidro is a 52 km2 micro-watershed in the Mocoties Watershed, Merida, Venezuela. One farmer from the watershed told me, “Sadly we have deforested and converted from the coffee industry to the cattle industry”. However, in San Isidro, the locals say the coffee industry has been spared because of the cooler climate. While I was there, I adjusted to the perfume of fermented coffee. We were offered up to five sugary cups of coffee in tin mugs everyday, coffee that had dried and roasted on local patios. Farmers generously shared memories of coffee varieties that grew under trees and tree oil collected for lamps that they used before electricity.
San Isidro represents three distinct agricultural land-uses along a 2300 m elevation gradient. Many households rely on farming as their main source of income. The highest and coolest communities produce potatoes, carrots and onions. The lowest and warmest community had mostly abandoned farming after experiencing heavy pest infestations, though some households recently produce citrus. In mid-elevation communities, smallholder farmers struggle to produce coffee to sell in a heavily regulated national market at a fixed price.
Selling harvests provides farmers with a small income, but many households rely on subsistence farming, trading with neighbors, and government assistance to support a healthy rural life away from insecurity in the city. As a result, the government of Venezuela provides many support services such as subsidized supplies, credits, and technical service to support farmers. I also noticed many new schools, clinics and houses that the government had funded.
Despite this, many farmers complained to me about disappointing support programs that did not provide enough technical service, adequate coffee prices, and credits. They told me that subsidized fertilizers were scarce and other options were too expensive. They also told me about a changing climate with unpredictable rain that ruins their crop. I knew farmers who used their credits to purchase motorbikes; many who regretted that they would not be as valuable to their families in the long-term as increasing their production of coffee. The youth in the community sometimes missed school to make money, instead spending their time harvesting vegetables on other farms.
Findings
My results revealed that many farmers had planted trees. Therefore, I examined economic and environmental reasons for tree planting separately. In the 150 surveys collected over two months of hiking through the fog, I found the following:
1. 80% listed economic reasons for planting trees, such as collecting timber and food; 47% listed environmental reasons for planting trees such as erosion control, maintaining water sources, and providing shade.
2. Most of the factors I identified from previous studies on smallholder tree planting contributed to tree planting for economic reasons but few of these factors were significant to tree planting for environmental reasons.
3. Elevation vastly altered the needs of farmers in the micro-watershed. Farmers in the lower communities were interested in trees to improve their ability to farm. In the higher elevation, farmers lived in cloudy climates and were more interested in growing trees to produce alternate sources of income.
4. Households who received support services were not more likely to plant trees.
Past studies focused on commercial tree planting to increase household income and the influence of factors that were not included in these studies, like environmental services (e.g. water), was less understood. However, I found these missing factors were significant to tree planting for environmental reasons. This could be especially relevant as a way to promote tree cover in communities with limited income opportunities.
Conclusions
My experienced taught me that communities like San Isidro have vulnerable livelihoods. They adjust to these livelihoods by finding ways to survive and rely on the government for additional assistance. They plant trees for complex reasons: maybe for food, to sell as timber, or to protect a valuable source of water. Unfortunately, many support services they receive do not effectively promote tree planting.
To promote multifunctional landscapes we need to understand the many ways smallholders value trees and use this knowledge to scale up initiatives that promote tree planting. It is crucial to consider both environmental and economic decisions as well as the factors that influence them. Without a deep understanding of smallholder values, we will limit the functions of our landscapes and continue to fall short on sustainable land-use goals.
Photo: Coffee drying- San Isidro, Merida
Blogpost and photo by Kumary Ponnambalam/ Faculty of Forestry, University of Toronto (Toronto, Canada) – kumary.ponnambalam(at)mail.utoronto.ca
She is supervised by Shashi Kant and supported by SSHRC and partners at INDEFOR.
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This post is entry nr #1 for our #WCA2014 blog competition. The five blogposts with the most and highest votes will receive a signed copy of the book "Trees for Life". The most popular blogpost will get an iPad.
This blogpost received 88 votes, with an average score of 5 (out of a max of 5).
Follow our #WCA2014 social reporting team via the #WCA2014 tag on Twitter, our blog and our Facebook page.
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INDRI, HARYANA, INDIA — To anyone else, the patches of poplar and eucalyptus trees that dot the flat, green landscape of Indri are just added greenery. But to farmer Chaudhry Sukhvir Singh, the trees are a fixed deposit.
"The biggest benefit is that I can plant these trees and then earn other income on the side. It’s like money being put in the bank. Anytime I need money for anything, I can cut these down and get my work done," Singh said as he removed weeds near a young sapling.
In a few years, the 500 poplar trees planted on Singh’s property in the northern state of Haryana will eventually earn him $15,000 when they are mature, cut down and sold to local plywood factories.
The farmer is among several hundred who receive support and guidance from the Nairobi-based World Agroforestry Center. The organization promotes sustainable agriculture by encouraging farmers to plant trees that produce fruit, timber, biodiesel and rubber.
Click here for the full article
There is an interesting link between female empowerment, cocoa production and under-nourished children, a link which is not always visible at first glance.
You see, children growing up in areas that produce large quantities of cocoa tend to be stunted in growth and subject to higher rates of malnutrition compared to children in other, nearby regions. This is especially true for the Ivory Coast in West Africa.
Fighting under-nutrition in children is crucial. Not getting vital vitamins A:s, B:s and D:s early in life can have very negative consequences later on. For example, it has been shown that adults who were undernourished as children have 15 percent less cognitive capacity. This will affect a person for the rest of his or her life, and cannot be repaired by eating right later in life.
Click here for the full article
Almost 45 percent of the land in Sub-Saharan Africa is being cultivated. This means crops are being grown on almost half of the continent. In addition, agriculture employs 65 percent of the total population in the region, earning farmers both an income and food. So why then, are so many still going hungry each day?
We have heard the question before and we know that answers do not come easy.
Yet it was exactly these questions and answers which were explored at the World Agroforestry Centre's side event at the Africa Agriculture Science Week (AASW). During the session, panelists found themselves confronted by an audience who didn't hold back, as they spoke about the links between fruit trees and food security under the topic of ‘Agroforestry for food and nutritional security in Africa’.
Click here for the full article
These challenges were recently addressed by Mbow and colleagues in an article featured in a special issue of Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability (COSUST).
The authors highlighted a number of recognized benefits arising from the use of agroforestry in smallholder systems, such as enhancing soil fertility and improving household resilience through the provision of additional products for sale or home consumption.
Furthermore, with an increasing imperative for smallholder farmers to adapt to and mitigate climate change, agroforestry offers a cost-effective option of doing so. Many studies have shown that agroforestry practices can sequester carbon from the atmosphere and diversify rural livelihoods through the provision of ecological and economic benefits.
However, these benefits are often overshadowed by the challenges of establishing tree-based systems in areas marred by poor land use and lack of governmental oversight: while many smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa practice agroforestry, adoption has not been widespread and this may be attributed to the political and socioeconomic environment, or the farmers’ disposition towards trees on their farms.
These obstacles are compounded by the lack of support for tree-based systems through public policies, and this is something that requires shifts in regional and national-level institutional frameworks.
Click here for the full article
In the Lushoto District in Northeastern Tanzania, more than 60 percent of the land is eroded. Therefore farmers in the area have begun testing a portfolio of promising climate change adaptation, mitigation and risk management interventions to help turn this around. This is being done together with research and development partners, and government extension agents.
Agroforestry and land management are among the mitigation interventions used in Lushoto.
Agroforestry has both ecological and economic benefits. It can provide farming families with the ‘five Fs’: Food, Fuel, Fodder, Finance and Fertility. In a nutshell, by integrating trees in farms and rangelands, farmers reduce their dependency on a single staple crop thereby diversifying their livelihoods.
Sadick Selemani in Lushoto is a champion farmer with trees like Albizzia and Grevillea species along the boundary and across contours on his 1.5 acre farm.
“I recently harvested 10 trees for timber which I used for roofing my house. Additionally, I sold five trees for 125,000 Tanzania Shillings (US$ 80) and used the money to pay school fees for my children” he said.
Another champion farmer, William Dennis has Grevillea, Casuarina and Pinus tree species on his three acre farm.
“Climate variability will hasten degradation of soil and water resources. Therefore our local community members should use trees to cushion their farms from degradation and benefit from the income generated,” says William.
In addition to individual farmers, schools have participated in tree planting. Yamba and Kongei Primary Schools planted Casuarina species around the school to act as a windbreaker.
There is a surging demand for tree seedling which are in short supply, and Tanzania Forestry Research Institute (TAFORI) is spearheading farmer training to establish three tree nurseries; each under the management of three newly established umbrella community based organizations, with a combined capacity of producing 45,000 tree seedlings in a season.
The main partners for this work: include the CGIAR Research Programme on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), Tanzania Forestry Research Institute (TAFORI), Selian Agricultural Research Institute (SARI), Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA), World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), and Lushoto District Council.
Each partner contributes their expertise to specific interventions, integrating these within existing community institutions and organisations.
The partnership has revived private tree nurseries that were dormant, making them able to supply 17,000 tree seedlings in the 2012 long rain season and 15,000 tree seedlings in the 2013 long rain season. At least 250 male and 150 female headed households have each planted 60 tree seedlings in the past two years. The tree planting also responds to a policy by the Lushoto District Council requiring a 10 percent tree cover on all farms.
Soil erosion is rampant in two annual rainy seasons in Nyando, and run off forms deep gullies that affect about 40 percent of the landscape which has negatively affected agriculture and food security.
To tackle these problems, people in Nyando have organized themselves into self-help groups covering 1,200 households. The majority of the active members are women.
The community-based organisations have partnered with CCAFS, World Agroforestry Center (ICRAF), CARE International, World Neighbors, VI-Agroforestry, Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI), Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries (MALF), and Ministry of Environment, and Natural Resources (MENR) to increase tree cover on farm.
The partnership has supported 25 tree nurseries, with a capability of producing 80,000 high quality tree seedlings in a season. The number of tree nurseries as well as their capacity has increased five times compared to five years ago. With a survival rate of 75 percent, the on-farm tree population has increased by at least 150,000 trees within five years.
–By John Recha, Philip Kimeli and Vivian Atakos
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Learn more: Empowering a local community to address climate risks and food insecurity in Lower Nyando, Kenya
Related journal article: Are food insecure smallholder households making changes in their farming practices? Evidence from East Africa
Access baseline surveys for the CCAFS Learning sites: Baseline Household Surveys 2010-2011
John Recha is a Participatory Action Research specialist, Philip Kimeli is a Research Assistant and Vivian Atakos is a Communication Specialist. All members of the CCAFS East Africa team. Follow East Africa on Twitter: @Cgiarclimate_ea
This article is published here with permission from CCAFS, the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security. A full version with links to multimedia is available on the CCAFS blog.
Where I come from, there is an old saying: “You might be doing a great job, but if nobody knows about it, ask yourself if it is worth doing”.
We know there are many people – scientists, farmers, communities, governments, universities and their students, private individuals and companies – who are working on great agroforestry projects.
Through our #WCA2014 blog for the World Congress on Agroforestry, we want to provide YOU the platform to showcase YOUR work:
Here is what we would like you to do:
- Write a blogpost of 500-1,000 words
- … which describes your agroforestry project, your newest initiative, your finest invention, your ingenious idea for which you would like support, your latest research findings. The general theme is “Trees for Life”
- Find a great picture to go with it
- Email the blogpost and picture to p.casier(at)cgiar.org
Here is what we will do for you:
- We will publish your blogpost and picture on the #WCA2014 blog, and possibly other online media.
- We will spread your post through our vast social media network, using over 100 social reporting volunteers
- And… your blogpost will enter into our competition
A competition?
Every blogpost will automatically be entered into an online competition: The online public will be able to vote for your blogpost – which will depend on WHAT you write about, and HOW you present it..
The five most popular blogposts will be announced at the upcoming World Congress on Agroforestry, and their authors will receive a certificate and a signed copy of “The Trees for Life,” a new book to launched at the Congress.
The writer of the best blogpost, will receive an Apple iPad.
Make it thrilling!
Remember: we want blogposts. We are not looking for dissertations, nor abstracts.
We are looking for inspiring stories, enticing enthusiasm about the current achievements and future potentials of agroforestry. We are looking for blogposts which are thrilling, and fun to read.
As the online community will judge your post, not only on the content, but also HOW it is presented, keep these simple tips on “How to write a good blogpost” in mind.
Some technical details:
- Your blogpost can be 800-1,000 words, and needs to be written in English
- The blogpost will be published as-is…
- Once published, the blogpost will not be edited for corrections
- Your blogpost needs to be submitted in a MS Word or plain text file.
- The blogpost should NOT contain any formatting, nor any pictures
- The main picture should be attached to the email, as a separate file. The picture should be of good quality, and at least 500 px wide.
- The caption for the picture should be included in the blogpost-file
- The credits for the picture should be included in the blogpost-file too. Please do not use pictures with a copyright, unless if you have permission to use the picture from the copyright holder
- If you are unable to find an appropriate picture, we will use a generic picture from our photo library
- It is advised to embed links in your blogpost, to illustrate “further reading” or reference material
- The blogpost should contain your name, email address, city and country (and if appropriate, the name of your company/institute/organisation and your function) – see this blogpost as an example.
What are we looking for again?
We want blogposts to showcase “Trees for Life”, illustrating the importance, and future potentials of agroforestry. We want to accelerate the impacts of agroforestry, and prove how agroforestry builds people’s livelihoods, increases the vitality of the landscape and how we can drive the adoption of large-scale innovations.
With the aim to significantly boost awareness, engagement and investments in agroforestry, anyone can submit a blogpost. Students can describe their project and field experience. Researchers can illustrate their findings. Farmers can submit stories on how they converted research to practice. Policy makers and advocacy groups can showcase the projects they implemented, etc.
Deadline for submissions
The blogposts and pictures can be submitted as of now until COB February 5th 2014. But remember: the earlier you submit, the more online votes you will get.
The votes will be tallied at midnight on February 9th 2014.
Submissions and further inquiries: Please contact Peter Casier – p.casier(at)cgiar.org
We will acknowledge every blogpost submission by email.
All competition entries can be found on this page.
Image courtesy RSA Education
One or two generations ago, smallholder farmers might have grown food crops mainly to feed their own families. But those days are gone. Farmers are looking more and more for cash income.
Like in Bihar, North-Central India: farmers still value the “yield” of a crop, but the “revenue” becomes increasingly important. It is not just because of the “Modern Times”, where electricity bills and school fees are to be paid, and people want to buy a mobile phone, a television or a tractor. No, there is more than that: climate change has chased up the expenses: boreholes, mechanical or electric pumps, hybrid seeds… Each of these has a price tag attached to it. A price tag, farmers are scrambling to pay, but a necessity for any land to bare any crop.
The droughts
A good crowd had gathered in Rambad, a small village in Bihar. Both young and old, from the better-off farmers to the day labourers, all were sitting around us. We were talking about the change in weather, the effects it had on this farmers’ community and ways these people have tried to adapt over time.
When we asked who of the farmers had experimented with new things in the past years, they pointed out a slim man, probably in his late thirties, standing in a bit of a distance. As we all looked at him, he came nearer, stood up straight and held his arms stiff along his body as he said his name, “Vidyabhushan Kumar”, in a loud voice. As if a teacher had just summoned him. We asked Vidyabhushan to sit with us and tell his story.
At first, his story did not differ much from many others we heard in North India: He had a small plot of land, shared with his brothers, where they used to crop wheat and maize. In the past years, the rains have become less predictable: the monsoon comes later, and is shorter. Water has become scarce. The yearly floods bringing in new soil and moisture to the fields are a thing of the past now.
The expenses
“Nowadays, no borehole, no crops”, Vidyabhushan explained, “We need to irrigate our fields, so we have to pump water from the boreholes. But it costs money to dig a borehole. Pump sets are expensive too. They require diesel to run, and need maintenance. All of that costs money, money we need to get from what we produce. No matter what we produce, we need to look at the market value; we look at the revenue it brings.”
In the past years, Vidyabhushan started to crop vegetables after the wheat and maize harvest. “I can get several crops of vegetables before I need to sow wheat again”, he said, “but still that is not enough to provide an income for my family. I needed more.”
Teak, a new source of income.
He took us to the flat roof of his house. In a corner about one hundred small seedlings stood together.
“Teak”, he said, “These are teak seedlings. You see, I calculated: I can buy these at 76 rupees a piece (about US$ 2). The tree needs 10 years to mature, and its timber will bring me 30,000 to 40,000 rupees (US$750 to US$1,000) for each tree. If I plant teak trees on the border of my field, about 6 feet apart, I can plant one hundred teak trees. This will give me a cash revenue of about 300,000 rupees (US$7,500) per year.”
“There is a big teak market abroad, so the resale value is almost guaranteed.” Vidyabhushan smiled, “ But my risks are low. Teak trees don’t need a lot of water, and they don’t conflict with my other crops. The trees can just grow on the edge of my fields. These trees will bring me the cash I need, both for my family, and to counter the increased expenses I have with my other crops. ”
The future: cash or food?
He kneeled down to pick up one of the seedlings. I noticed how careful and softly he handles the tiny plant as he shows it to me. It was as if he was holding his future in his hands.
When we thanked him for the interview, he said “No, don’t go yet, I still want to show you my field, and my crops.” Vidyabhushan smiled as he walked through his vegetable patch: “You see, we can’t eat timber, we can’t eat money. No matter how the market would change, no matter of the revenue teak would bring me, I still need to feed my family. And for that I need to grow food, not just timber!”
But maybe, he is the last generation to still think so. Maybe, as the climate changes, erratic rains, droughts and pests might push farmers’ expenses even higher. Would the next generation of farmers then think of “Revenue only”-crops? What would happen then if they’d stop growing food crops? What would happen if smallholder farmers would switch to non-food crops on a large scale?
Blogpost and photo by Peter Casier/CCAFS (Rome, Italy) – p.casier(at)cgiar.org
Blogpost originally published on the blog from the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS)
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This is an example entry for our #WCA2014 blog competition. The five blogposts with the most and highest votes will receive a signed copy of the book "Trees for Life". The most popular blogpost will get an iPad.
So, dear reader, YOUR vote is important. Please rate this post, for the originality of the project, the way its story inspired you, and the way the blogpost was written. The more stars, the higher your appreciation:
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Our suffering planet looks set on a path of destruction, according to many. But leading thinkers gathered at the World Agroforestry Centre’s annual Science Week see the possibility of a bright, and sustainable, future Earth with secure land rights and agroforestry at its core, says Robert Finlayson
Every year, most of the World Agroforestry Centre’s 300-plus scientists gather in Nairobi, Kenya, to discuss their research methods and findings from projects in 38 or so countries around the world. The week-long event ended this year with a panel of distinguished guests discussing what is needed to create a future, sustainable Earth.
The panel was part of a contribution to the Future Earth initiative. The questions, ‘What is this future Earth? What does it demand of all of us? What can we identify as a path to progress?’ were put by the moderator, Dr Ravi Prabhu, the Centre’s deputy director-general research.
The first to respond was Achim Steiner, executive director and under-secretary-general of the United Nations Environment Programme, who argued that we needed more research into sustainable production landscapes. And to make such landscapes a reality, decision makers needed to receive more information that was relevant for implementation. So the real question was what could we do to make sure that people were properly informed and motivated to act?
For Steiner, the current age focuses on the ‘production maximisation curve’ but rather than exploit resources we need to manage systems if we are to feed 7 billion people without destroying ourselves in the process.
The word ‘Acacia’ returns about 25 million results from an online search. The same genus name, entered in the newly launched Agroforestry Species Switchboard, produces a list of the 629 species names containing ‘Acacia’, easily navigable with links to further information from over a dozen globally renowned databases. Acacia are among the 22,212 useful tree, shrub and related plant species listed searchable from this new information gateway on the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) website.
“The Switchboard’s main strength is that it shortens the time and energy spent on searches, and generates quality information drawn from trusted sources,” says Roeland Kindt, the senior ecologist at ICRAF who led the development of the tool. “Its creation was driven by a need expressed by users, for a “one-stop-shop” for good quality and detailed information on species of interest,” says Kindt.
The work was funded by the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry, and during the development of the tool, most of ICRAF research divisions, known as Science Domains, were involved.
The 13 websites the Switchboard links to include The Plant Resources for Tropical Africa, The Useful Tree Species for Africa, Tree Seed Suppliers Directory, The UNEP-WCMC Species Database, and The VECEA interactive vegetation map. In addition to directly harnessing information from these 13, the switchboard also provides hyperlinks to The Plant List, Tropicos, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and The Global Biodiversity Information Facility.
“Before the Switchboard, you had to search for a particular species one database at a time. But now, multiple databases that list information on a particular species can be accessed in one go,” says Kindt.
“Because listings of species in databases only partially overlap, it is common to find little or no information on a particular species in one database, but plenty of it in a second or third database. So it makes sense to query multiple trusted sources of data on one web interface,” he states.
By harvesting information in this way, the user can find out detailed descriptions on a particular species, its uses, availability of its seed and seedlings, how suitable it is for growing in various ecological zones, as well as its photographs or line drawings.
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Farms, estates and other land uses produce food and other benefits but they can also produce greenhouse gases. To reduce these, Indonesia is working with the World Agroforestry Centre to implement land-use planning for low-emissions development strategies, say Sonya Dewi, Feri Johana, Andree Ekadinata and Putra Agung in a new policy brief
Agriculture and forestry generate food, building materials and economic returns, amongst other things of crucial importance to human wellbeing. However, they often also generate emissions of greenhouse gases and contribute significantly to global warming. Yet they have the potential to absorb carbon dioxide and mitigate climate change.
If not properly planned, trying to stop such emissions by halting deforestation or changing agricultural practices can restrict economic growth and threaten the security of food supplies.
We have found that a ‘landscape approach’—rather than one-off, site-specific interventions—can more effectively reduce emissions while maintaining development targets. This is because in any given area decisions about how land is used—and therefore what emissions are produced—are made by a complex web of people with differing motivations. We call this approach ‘Land-use planning for low-emission development strategies’ or LUWES.
Using this approach with local governments to plan how land is used is critically important because it is in local villages and farms that agriculture and forestry—and any associated emissions—take place. In complex landscapes that are home to diverse and perhaps conflicting groups, an inclusive, integrated and informed planning process is much more likely to reduce emissions than a ‘top–down’ approach.
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Drylands occupy 40% of the earth’s land area and are home to 2.5 billion people – nearly a third of the world’s population. People in dry areas are forced to contend with severe environmental degradation and increasing climate variability, as population soars. A groundbreaking paper heralding a new integrated systems approach to agricultural research in the drylands, was published in the journal Food Security this week .
This is good news for 400 million people in the developing world who depend on dryland agriculture for their livelihoods. But what is new?
To begin with, the authors distinguish between households with a low asset base, whose livelihoods are dominated by vulnerability, and those with a stronger asset base. For the first group the priority is to reduce vulnerability and improve their resilience whereas the second group are well placed to benefit from sustainable intensification, focused on improving productivity per unit of land and water. “In reality, households are spread along a continuum from low to high resilience and productivity,” said Fergus Sinclair, Science Domain Leader at the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), and one of the authors of the paper,
“But, there is a threshold of vulnerability that you have to cross before people are able to invest in increasing productivity, rather than protecting themselves from the sort of catastrophic collapses that we saw affecting close to 10 million people in the Horn of Africa in the 2011 drought.”
The paper proposes an approach to research for development that integrates action horizontally (across sectors) and vertically (across scales) all along impact pathways, from research activity, through outputs (new research findings), outcomes (how the findings are applied to change what extension, development partners and policy makers do), and impact (improved food security and nutrition, reduced poverty and enhanced environmental integrity in the drylands).
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In the agroforestry parklands of the Sahel, generations of farmers have integrated crops, livestock and trees. With increasing pressure on natural resources to provide fuel, food and fodder for a growing population, farmers and scientists are looking at how these systems can best be intensified to increase productivity.
“Trees, crops and livestock all benefit from each other in the parkland farming systems of countries such as Burkina Faso and Mali,” explains Jules Bayala, Senior Scientist in Ecophysiology with the World Agroforestry Centre. “But to ensure all components are as productive as they can be relies on better integration and increased knowledge about the dependency, competition and complementarity of each element.”
In the agroforestry parkland farming system, livestock – cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, camels, donkeys and foul – are kept as a source of food, transport, power and cash. During the dry season, livestock freely browse in the parklands, providing manure that improves soil fertility and helps nourish trees and crops. Livestock also disburse the seeds of trees and sometimes break seed dormancy.
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One small change of words is a giant leap in the effectiveness of agricultural research and development.
The race is on to find sustainable ways of producing enough food to feed the world over the next three to four decades. Over this time, population, and living standards for many people, are both set to rise, creating a burgeoning demand for food, at the same time as pressures on land and ecosystems threaten supply. A new article, just out in Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, tackles the thorny question of how to ‘scale up’ the use of sustainable intensification options so that they are available to large numbers of smallholder farmers.
There have been a number of high profile calls to scale-up agroforestry as a means to produce more food and fuel in an environmentally sustainable way. Jerry Glover of USAID set out the stall for perennial agriculture in Africa, in a piece in Nature last year: Agriculture: Plant perennials to save Africa’s soils. Olivier De Schutter, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food, recently made the case that agroecology can feed the world, and even Bill Gates, quoted on the sleeve of Gordon Conway’s 2012 book ‘One Billion Hungry: Can We Feed the World?’ says “we will need to help smallholder farmers sustainably increase their productivity.” Sustainable, ecological or agroecological ‘intensification’, are the new buzzwords in the corridors of aid agencies and government ministries, and Brian Keating has rekindled interest in agricultural systems thinking under a banner of ‘eco-efficiency’.
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Hearty applause mingled with the sound of drumbeat at the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) as the African Plant Breeding Academy came into being shortly after midday on 3 December 2013. The Academy, an initiative of the African Orphan Crops Consortium (AOCC),[1] is hosted by ICRAF and will be used to train around 250 African scientists in the latest biotechnological techniques to optimize the yield and nutritional content of 100 important but little-researched edible crops and trees native to Africa. Grown widely on farms, the improved varieties will help address the serious challenge of poor health caused by chronic malnutrition and recurrent episodes of hunger among Africa’s populations, especially the rural poor.
Professor Onesmo ole MoiYoi, the event’s keynote speaker, was emphatic: “We have to get serious about getting people out of episodes of starvation,” he said. Ole MoiYoi, chair of the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute Board, discussed the many dangers of poor nutrition in mothers, babies, and young children. These include an acquired predisposition to life-threatening conditions like coronary disease, hypertension, certain cancers, and even schizophrenia, later in life. “Imprinting during fetal development commits an individual to develop traits that can be passed on to grandchildren,” he stated, citing observations from Europe and China.
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Are you familiar with things like "Twitter", "Facebook", "blogging", "vlogging", "podcasting",…? Join us! Or if those words sound like gibberish to you, well… You are welcome too!
Experienced social media users, professionals, volunteers, journalists as well as beginners are equally welcome in the social media team of the World Congress on Agroforestry (WCA2014) held in Delhi – India, on February 10-14 (2014)…
We are assembling a large team of social media volunteers to support the conference. The volunteers can participate either online, or at the event itself. We are offering a free two days' social media training course for all onsite volunteers.
So join our online group of social media volunteers, or our onsite social reporting team!
Join our social reporters volunteering team:
This team is a mixture of professionals and young volunteers. Some work for the organisations participating in the WCA2014 and others work for our partners or other organisations. Most of our social reporters, though, are social media enthusiasts, who contribute to our social media outreach through their own networks.
Some of our volunteers are present at the forum itself, but most are supporting us remotely in various social media activities, ranging from writing or editing blogposts, uploading videos and pictures, spreading different content pieces via Twitter, Facebook,..
Our social reporters coordinate their activities via a Google Group discussion forum, and have already started their work for the event. Each contributes whatever they can into the discussions, dependent on their time availability, expertise and eagerness…
The real exciting part is "while doing, we learn": having such a large and diverse social reporting team, gives us a wealth of experience, which allows our social reporters to learn from each other.
You don't have to fulfill any criteria to be part of our social reporting team, other than being enthusiastic about our causes: agroforestry, forestry, agriculture, sustainable development, food security, natural research management, …
Even if you can't come to the event itself, you can still participate online. You'll be able to contribute to the group's discussions, help with the social media outreach, or even report via one of our live webcasts!
Interested? Send our social media coordinator an email: Peter Casier – p.casier(at)cgiar(dot)org – and we'll plug you into our team!
Join our onsite social reporters team, register for the free social media training!
If you are coming to the conference itself, we're happy to integrate you into our social media team, reporting live from the Congress!
To help you prepare, we are giving a free social media training for all volunteers on Feb 8-9 at the WCA2014 venue.
The training will cover:
- an overview of all social media tools, and their use within a professional environment;
- an overview of how to pull all these tools into a strategy;
- hands-on introduction in two key tools we will use for social reporting at WCA2014: Twitter and blogging;
On Feb 9th, the training will conclude with a meeting of all onsite social reporting volunteers.
The training is free, and open to all social reporting volunteers (congress participants, students, scientists and staff from partners etc..).
Interested in joining our social reporting team? Email our social media coordinator: Peter Casier – p.casier(at)cgiar(dot)org and we will enlist you on our e-discussion group.
In your mail, please mark clearly if you want to participate in the training, as the number of seats is limited!
For more information just email Peter and he will be happy to assist you.
Picture courtesy: Jason A. Howie
While agroforestry technologies have been shown to increase production and food security and contribute to income generation, how can we ensure the science of agroforestry truly has a positive impact on development?
A session on Bridging Science and Development, during the second day of the World Congress of Agroforestry, will explore the conditions which are necessary to ensure agroforestry science has a positive influence on social, environmental and/or economic development.
What type of agroforestry science is needed to deliver positive development? How can science ‘on’ development be converted to science 'for' development in agroforestry? What policy approaches help to bridge science and development? These are among the questions which speakers working in academia, development, policy and extension will attempt to answer.
Best practice in establishing agroforestry research for development projects will be discussed along with what is currently known about the adoption of science-based agroforestry technologies and what is required to convert agroforestry research into policies.
Presentations will also analyze the ability of agroforestry research to contribute to local capacity development and the current situation with regard to where science and development practitioners working on agroforestry already cooperate and where is there room for improvement.
Photo: Coffee experts share knowledge about pruning management in Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia. (courtesy Enggar Paramita, World Agroforestry Centre)
The Congress Organising Committee has decided to extend early registration deadline to 30 December 2013, to encourage more participants to register for the congress with benefits of lower registration fees. From 31 December 2013, the regular registration fee will apply.
The Congress will feature Keynote Addresses, Plenary Discussions and Breakout Sessions, structured around the business, development and science of agroforestry.
The first day will be devoted to agroforestry systems, income and environmental benefits in South Asia. Subsequent days are arranged around the themes of: Business in the context of science and development, Sustaining development through agroforestry, breakthroughs and innovations, and The integration of science, business and development.
Looking forward to seeing you at the WCA 2014.
To give interested parties a last chance to contribute to the deliberations, the Organizing Committee of the World Congress on Agroforestry 2014 has decided to extend the deadline for submitting an abstracts to 15 October 2013.
The Congress will feature Keynote Addresses, Plenary Discussions and Breakout Sessions, structured around the business, development and science of agroforestry.
The first day will be devoted to agroforestry systems, income and environmental benefits in South Asia. Subsequent days are arranged around the themes of: Business in the context of science and development, Sustaining development through agroforestry, breakthroughs and innovations, and The integration of science, business and development.
A total of 32 breakout sessions, for which abstracts should be submitted, will consider issues from agroforestry policy through public-private partnerships to the agroforestry of degraded lands. Full details of the agenda are available here. Submit your abstract here.
Trees in the landscape provide goods and services that are important to the livelihoods, welfare and wellbeing of people in the landscape, and beyond it. Such services that benefit humankind are regulating water flow, preventing erosion, protecting biodiversity and even providing beautiful scenery.
However, decisions to cut, plant or otherwise manage these trees tend to be dominated by the direct benefits that the ‘owner’ expects. The environmental services are not considered, but they become more valuable as the trees and forests are destroyed.
Session 3.6 of the World Congress on Agroforestry 2014 will look at ways to put a value on the environmental services of trees in the landscape. Various approaches exist. Some rely on valuation in economic terms, to allow direct equivalence to traded goods that can be extracted from the landscape, with or without forest and/or trees.
Other studies have been designed to calculate the costs to land owners of not removing trees and forests as a basis for compensation, and/ to design co-investment programmes that support enhancement of environmental services.
Agroforestry landscape mosaics provide ecosystem services at levels substantially above those of intensified agriculture, yet there is no responsibility for them being lost.
The session will aim to provide a cross section of current research methods that involve economic valuation of the environmental services that trees provide in landscapes (in dependence of tree density, diversity, spatial pattern, management regime and other factors), but also of action research that seeks to change the (perceived) incentives for land managers to enhance tree roles in providing environmental services.
Farmers in developing countries will have to face the main impacts of climate change: extreme weather events like tornadoes, floods and droughts. Unreliable rainfall and rising temperatures will threaten food supplies, crops and livestock. At the same time, farming households will lose the ability to cope with these stresses. Putting trees into agriculture and actively managing them in the landscape is a way to buffer climate risk and protect the ecosystems that support poor farmers. Cheik Mbow, Senior Scientist, Climate Change and Development of the World Agroforestry Centre, will run a session on climate change at the Congress, with his colleague Todd Rosenstock. “Adaptation with agroforestry is seen in this session as potential response to the adverse effects of climate change but also as a viable option to respond to and reduce the anticipated negative impacts with trees,” he said.
Many agroforestry options can be pursued depending to the time period, the scale, the actors, the expected outcomes and available resources. There remains a wide range of research to be done to answer the fundamental questions about the benefits and challenges of adapting agroforestry to climate change. “We require a renewed effort to develop approaches capable of generating comprehensive and generalizable knowledge about these systems,” said Mbow. “To manage the diversity of approaches and case studies, this session will explore the communities’ ability to use agroforestry to adapt to climate change.”
The six scientists who will be talking during the session will be answering questions like: under what conditions can agroforestry systems contribute to the current well-being of the poor while enhancing their adaptive capacity? Are all components and processes relevant for understanding and managing benefit flows from agroforestry in changing climate and agricultural landscape included in current policies and development agendas? What are the current challenges for scientists and developers to better specify the adaptation strategies related to agroforestry in multifunctional and changing agricultural landscapes?
The answers will contribute to the road map that the Congress will produce for future action.
Agroforestry directly contributes to food and nutritional security in developing countries. Trees on farms and in the landscape provide food, fruit and medicines, support staple crop production, increase farm incomes, supply cooking fuel and provides services such as pollination that maintain other food sources.
With the challenges of rising food prices, a growing population and climate change, a combination of trees, staple crops, vegetables and livestock will provide year-round food and nutrition as well as buffer the impacts of climate change.
In sub-Saharan Africa, where nine of the 20 nations with the highest burden of children under-nutrition worldwide are found, the average consumption of fruit and vegetables is well below the minimum recommended daily intake. “Mixed agroforestry systems that mix locally important food trees with staple crops support nutrition, minimize risks and provide farmers with increased and stable incomes,” said Jamnadass.
“One area of huge potential for improving nutrition is in the range of less-used indigenous food found in forests and wooded lands,” said Ramni Jamnadass, head of research into tree diversity, domestication and delivery at the World Agroforestry Centre, and a session leader at the Congress. “Such trees are often much richer in micronutrients, fibre and protein than staple crops.”
Work is underway in Ghana, Nigeria and Tanzania to domesticate the indigenous allanblackia tree so that it can be grown in mixed agroforestry systems by smallholder farmers integrated with crops such as cocoa. Allanblackia produces edible oil that is highly valued in the global food market.
Growing agroforestry products such as coffee, palm oil, cacao, tea and rubber can increase farmers’ incomes and enable them to purchase food, but it is not without risk. Cash crops can result in the destruction of natural forests which contain important local foods. Food crops can also be displaced if there is a trend towards growing cash crops in monocultures.
“The key,” says Jamnadass “is to have a mix of systems.” But achieving this requires developments in agroforestry policies that reform tree and land tenure for the benefit of small-scale farmers, establish or improve systems that provide agroforestry inputs such as tree seed and seedlings, and encourage additional investment in agroforestry. Such developments will be considered in Session 3 of the Congress ‘The business of agroforestry: applying science’.
Professor M.S. Swaminathan has been confirmed as a keynote speaker for the World Congress on Agrofroestry 2014. Professor Swaminathan is known as the 'Father of the Green Revolution in India' for his leadership and success in introducing and further developing high-yielding varieties of wheat in India. He is the founder and Chair of the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation. His vision is to rid the world of hunger and poverty. Professor Swaminathan is an advocate of moving India to sustainable development, especially using environmentally sustainable agriculture, sustainable food security and the preservation of biodiversity. This he calls an 'evergreen revolution', which will increase productivity in perpetuity without causing ecological damage.
The 'evergreen revolution' is closely tied to the concept of 'Evergreen Agriculture', where trees that fix nitrogen in their root, the so-called 'fertilizer trees' are integrated into annual food crop and livestock systems, sustaining a green cover on the land throughout the year. It bolsters nutrient supply through nitrogen fixation and nutrient cycling, increases direct production of food, fodder, fuel, and fibre, and provides additional income to farmers from tree products.
Swaminathan is a strong advocate of the use of agroforestry in developing country agriculture. He has been quoted as saying "Agroforestry is a science by itself and has to maintain its identity. And forestry helps us from a green revolution to an evergreen revolution." He has stressed the importance of agroforestry in overcoming nutritional challenges and highlighted its many benefits. "We need to reinvent agriculture in a sustainable and affordable way so that it can adapt to climate change and reduce its emissions of greenhouse gases. Novel solutions and technological advances must be married with ecological thinking to drive a truly sustainable agricultural revolution".
"Successful examples of evergreen agriculture … urgently need further research and scaling up to create a real evergreen revolution," he said.
World Congress on Agroforestry 2014 will be organising fieldtrips for participants on February 13-14 to close out the congress. The fleld trips will be throughout the South Asian region and demonstrating in-person some of the topics previously addressed in the days leading up to the trips.
With a total of 6 tracks, the theme of the field trips include
1. South Asia: Agroforestry systems, income and environmental benefits
2. South Asia: Climate change, multi-functionality, livestock and fish systems
3. The business of agroforestry: Applying science
4. Sustaining development through agroforestry
5. Applying science to the future of agroforestry: Breakthroughs and innovations
6. Applying science to the future of agroforestry: Policy innovation and global issues
More information regarding individual field trip locations, schedules, agendas and details will be posted as we approach the event. To receive updates on field trips and reminders on registration please submit your email address in the capture field at the bottom of the page (footer).
The right trees, coupled with the right varieties of crops, rural advisory services, and a supportive policy environment can have a huge impact on crop yields, nutrition and income in Africa. And because smallholder farmers feed and nourish most of Africa’s 1 billion population, this is where we must start.
Agroforestry systems in Africa range from open parkland assemblages, home gardens, mixtures of trees with one or several crops, and trees planted in hedges and boundaries of fields and farms. Thanks to a rich body of science-based knowledge that brings the best in ‘agro’ and ‘forest’ together, farmers can select the right tree and crop associations for the right place. Well designed agroforestry systems provide benefits that cannot be attained from monocrops.
African farmers have the most agroforestry species to choose from out of all developing countries; according to the Agroforestree Database at least 1,141 species are known to provide functions of importance to smallholders for promoting food and nutritional security. Among these are fertilizer trees, fruit and nut trees, as well as nutritious fodder trees and shrubs, which lead to higher yields for dairy farmers.
Agroforestry using fertilizer trees has been proven to raise and stabilize maize yields. between 2007 and 2011 ICRAF and partners implemented the Malawi Agroforestry Food Security Programme funded by Irish Aid, reaching about 180,000 farmers. The programme involved introducing fertilizer, fruit, and fodder trees and shrubs into smallholder farms. By the end of the intervention maize yields, food-secure months per year, and fruit availability had changed for the better in a vast majority of households practicing agroforestry. And across hundreds of thousands of hectares of the Sahelian region of Africa, yields of grains, ground nut and cotton have improved when grown under or near the fertilizer tree Faidherbia.
Agroforestry provides us a golden opportunity to improve nutrition in sub-Saharan Africa, where,, according to FAO global data, fruit consumption is the lowest. A combination of indigenous and exotic tree foods in agroforestry systems can provide a year‐round supply of important nutrients; raise farmers’ incomes through the sale of produce; boost the production of traditional species; and conserve precious indigenous agrobiodiversity threatened by deforestation.
Participatory tree domestication—the science and art of bringing forest species into on-farm cultivation—has shown tremendous benefits for smallholder farmers in Africa. Developed in Cameroon in the last decade as a close collaboration between scientists and farmers, the approach involves combining scientific knowledge with local communities’ experiences to bring a range of valuable indigenous fruit tree species onto farms. Rural Resource Centres are used to multiply these new cultivars and support farmers in agroforestry adoption.
Fuel is a critical aspect of food and nutritional security that is often overlooked—unless a family has the fuel to cook it, many foods cannot be eaten. As competition for natural resources gathers pace with population growth, trees on farms can provide fuelwood, and furthermore save the time that would be spent gathering it.
Income generation from trees and their products can sustainably support food security and development. Public-private-sector partnerships—such as the Vision for Change (V4C) project for cocoa improvement in West Africa, with funding and support from Mars Chocolate and the Unilever-funded Novel partnership for Allanblackia oil in the humid equatorial belt of Africa—are helping smallholders farm trees sustainably for income.
In Africa, policy constraints, sub-optimal value chains, and underinvestment in research are some of the factors hindering greater adoption of agroforestry. Tree and land tenure policies, for instance, should benefit small-scale farmers. Avenues for smallholders to obtain agroforestry knowledge and inputs such as tree-planting materials also require political and practical support.
At the Africa Agriculture Science Week, 15-20 July, ICRAF will host a side event on agroforestry in Africa, and will be involved in at least two other events.
Check out ICRAF event at the Africa Agriculture Science Week, Accra, and join us if you can!
Applying agroforestry solutions to environmental, social and economic problems offers commercial opportunities in developing countries around the globe. This is what Sagun Saxena, Managing Partner of CleanStar Ventures, told the audience during the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) side event “The IFAD-ICRAF Biofuel Program.”
CleanStar’s venture, CleanStar Mozambique, is working proof that it’s possible to increase local food and energy security, reduce vulnerability to climate change, achieve forest protection and reduce greenhouse gas emissions through a smallholder-based agroforestry approach, while simultaneously generating a profit.
CleanStar’s success story was presented during the UNFCCC side event, “The IFAD-ICRAF Biofuel Program” alongside the Bonn Climate Talks. The newly-launched program aims to develop sustainable biofuels – renewable fuels derived from biomass – by capitalizing on the benefits offered by agroforestry, including increased soil fertility, reduced soil erosion, and greater energy yield per unit of land from crops, and by learning from experiences such as Mozambique’s.
In Africa, as in other parts of the world, the use of charcoal as a cooking fuel puts households at risk from indoor air pollution and can contribute to large-scale deforestation if produced unsustainably. In rural areas, unreliable income from charcoal, coupled with a reliance on one or two subsistence crops leaves farmers particularly vulnerable to extreme climatic events. Growing urban populations that depend on imported food products such as Malaysian palm oil and Thai rice are also at risk.
“There’s no connection to the local farmers or to the local agricultural production base,” said Saxena. “And increasingly that means that urban populations are also more vulnerable to shocks related to global food crises.”
CleanStar’s answer to these challenges was an integrated venture that works all the way from agricultural production via smallholder farmers through to supplying the urban population with food and energy products.
blogAt its core, the business transitions subsistence farmers to an agroforestry system that incorporates indigenous and oil-producing trees and includes crop rotation of cassava, cereals and legumes. The increased productivity of cassava generates a sustainable source for the production of an ethanol cooking solution – branded “NDZiLO” or “fire” in the local language – which is sold at or below the price of charcoal. The business also produces packaged, fortified cassava flour and soya cooking oil, both of which help to reduce the reliance on external food imports.
The shift from charcoal to locally-produced renewable fuel allows CleanStar Mozambique to generate certified emissions reductions through the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). Together, these activities generate revenue for the business, while farmers reap the benefits of increased agricultural productivity, diversified income sources and reduced vulnerability to climate change through a diversity of crops. With roughly 1100 farmers participating to date, the business is set to reach its target of 2000 farmers supplying cassava and 80,000 households using NDZiLO by 2014.
Urban households clearly value this new cooking fuel over biomass. “[Women] want something they can light instantly, they can control the heat of very precisely, they can turn it off and they know it’s off, they’re comfortable for their children and their young daughters to use,” said Saxena.
While the clean cooking movement has focused on liquefied petroleum gas and improved charcoal stoves, Saxena sees a much bigger opportunity. “Our view is that a solution that actually looks at sustainably produced ethanol could have much greater impacts because it makes this really important linkage with farmers.”
“But really the game here is not just about Mozambique,” added Saxena. CleanStar Ventures estimates that there are at least 40 other cities in Africa where similar agroforestry business models could work, along with other continents and especially small island developing states. “Really there’s a much bigger opportunity here about figuring out how to connect urban consumers with these rural households and the smallholder farmers. And the impacts of that in our view can be quite phenomenal.”
With a rising demand for herbal medicinal and increasing pressure on wild populations, on-farm cultivation makes sense, but are traders willing to source from farms?
A new study published in the scientific journal, Forests Trees and Livelihoods, concludes that formalization of the market in Kenya – through better hygiene, packaging and labelling of materials – has the potential to drive increased cultivation.
Traditional medicine is practised in rural areas throughout the developing world due in part to poor access to modern medicine but also because of traditional beliefs that herbal medicine can manage a range of conditions. In Kenya, the majority of traditional medicines are sold as wild plant parts, but in urban areas, demand for traditional medicines is rising and this is leading to increased formalization of the market, with traditional medicines now found in powders, liquids and creams.
Jonathan Muriuki, lead author of the study and research scientist at the World Agroforestry Centre, believes that as lifestyles improve, consumers demand better quality. “This opens up greater opportunities for trade in medicinal tree products among actors in the value chain, such as collectors, producers, healers, processors, manufacturers and even exporters,” outlines Muriuki.
Muriuki and colleagues set out to learn where medicinal plant traders in Kenya sourced their raw materials and to determine if formalisation of the market could provide more opportunities for cultivation. This has been the case in Amatola, and a number of other urban centres in South Africa, where the availability of markets for medicinal products has stimulated cultivation.
Interviews with 55 herbal medicine enterprises in four major cities in Kenya (Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu and Meru) revealed that 49 per cent sourced materials from farms and the demand was rising. However, 69 per cent of traders expressed a preference for materials sourced from the wild mainly because they perceived these would have higher potency because the plants will have grown to full maturity and in rich soils and less interference from human activities such as chemical application.
Those who preferred farm-sourced material said this was because of expected higher quality from good crop husbandry, increasing scarcity in the wild, and for some, a deliberate choice to conserve wild resources.
The study focused on three types of enterprises that were geared towards formal status:
- Herbal clinics which process raw plant parts into concoctions which are dispensed directly to patients. These clinics had an annual growth of 12 per cent and most collected themselves from the wild.
- Final product enterprises which process plant parts into tablets, creams and gels that are distributed to retail outlets. These were the fastest growing enterprise with 35 per cent annual growth in traded volume. They sourced 71 per cent of their material from farms.
- Herbal semi-processing enterprises which process plant parts into powders and liquids that are sold directly to consumers mostly in open air markets. These enterprises grew at 8 per cent and mostly collected themselves from the wild.
“While these types of formal enterprise are fairly recent in Kenya, we found that they are all experiencing annual growth and demanding more uniform raw materials which cultivation can provide,” says Muriuki.
“Cultivation would not only provide a sustainable supply of medicinal products but also increase the incomes of poor smallholder farmers while addressing current problems of over-harvesting and resource degradation which have reduced the abundance of wild materials.”
To further assess the potential for cultivation, 200 farmers in an area east of Mount Kenya, where agroforestry is widely practised, were interviewed. Although many of these farmers sold timber and fruits from their trees, only 5 reported selling medicinal tree products despite having knowledge of the medicinal properties of the trees.
“Farmers stated they would sell medicinal products if they had access to market opportunities,” says Muriuki. “Access to markets for other tree products has led to increased cultivation of these, so it would be fair to assume the same could be applied for medicinal trees”.
Species such as Warburgia ugandensis and Kigelia Africana, which the study found had trade growth rates above 10% and were mainly sourced from the wild, were identified as high priority for domestication in order to increase volumes sourced from farms and conserve wild resources. Other species which are in high demand, such as P. africana, A. indica, and M. oleifera, should also be considered a priority for cultivation according to the authors.
To improve the market in traditional medicines, the study recommends linking traders to farmers in the form of grower groups, especially women, which could initially focus on the most traded species with diminishing supplies.
“We found scope for enabling policies that would encourage the supply of medicinal species from farms, such as tax rebates or more stringent measures to control volumes harvested from the wild,” explains Muriuki. “Such measures would encourage greater cultivation”.
The authors identified areas for further research, including propagation techniques that can produce trees with high chemical concentrations at early maturity and economic analysis into the profitability of planting medicinal species under various management regimes to help farmers make decisions about planting them as alternative crops.
Agroforests of rubber and other trees, which are not intensively managed, provide plentiful benefits to local people living on the margins of forests, says Elis Hayati
In Jambi province, Sumatra, Indonesia, agroforests are the main sources of food, firewood and countless other benefits. They are complex systems that involve low-intensity management, allowing many tree species to grow inside the farmers’ tree gardens.
The agroforests also provide environmental services indispensable for both people and nature. Changing rubber agroforests to monocultural systems, which require intensive land management, results in the loss of species from the ecosystem and reduction of services, according to Subekti Rahayu and Harti Ningsih of the World Agroforestry Centre, who presented results from a research study at the Indonesian National Agroforestry Seminar in Malang, East Java on 21 May 2013.
Only 32% of the rubber in Indonesia is produced from intensive, monocultural plantations, which are usually planted in areas from which natural forest has been cleared. The remaining 68% is produced from smallholdings, where the area is lightly cleared once a year or less, leaving most vegetation, especially plants that have value for the farmers.
In two villages in Jambi—Lubuk Beringin and Tebing Tinggi—the Centre’s researchers carried out a tree-biodiversity survey that covered saplings, poles and tree stages in rubber agroforests and also conducted some focus-group discussions about community use of the agroforests.
The results of the biodiversity survey showed that there was a high similarity of species’ numbers and composition between rubber agroforests and undisturbed, natural forests. Respectively, 90% for saplings, 80% for poles and 75% for trees. This implied that tree biodiversity in rubber agroforests provided environmental services similar to undisturbed forests.
The focus-group discussions revealed that the different tree species in rubber agroforests played several roles, namely: 1) ‘provisioning’, that is, they were sources of food, livelihoods, firewood, medicines and construction materials; 2) ‘regulating’, that is, sequestering carbon (carbon stock in rubber agroforests was estimated at 60% of that in undisturbed forests); 3) ‘supporting’, or erosion control; and 4) ‘cultural’, providing auxiliary plants that were put to customary uses.
Villagers managing non-intensive rubber agroforests used a significantly larger number of plants for building material, household tools, food, medicine and honey than those working monocultural plantations.
When presented with the findings of the benefits of their agroforests, the communities were eager to preserve them. Whether that will be possible given the economic attractiveness of other crops remains to be seen.
Programs to support tree planting on-farm are more likely to succeed in areas that are already deforested or where remaining forests are effectively protected, and where farmers have secure land tenure, say Fernando Santos Martin and colleagues in a policy brief published by the ASB Partnership for the Tropical Forest Margins and the World Agroforestry Centre. They further say that to support tree planting, governments should focus on enabling conditions, rather than providing tree seedlings.
As long as natural forests can be accessed for timber, farmers have little incentive to grow trees on their own land. National tree planting programs in the Philippines have achieved early successes with fast growing trees. However, the quality of wood was low, earning the farmers disappointingly little income. Some farmers responded by growing high-value, slower-growing native timbers, intercropping trees with maize. What are the prospects for this? What influences smallholders to plant native timber trees? Which types of farmers are doing it? Is it profitable? What policy measures could support or enhance such agroforestation of the landscape? A recent study by the ASB Partnership for the Tropical Forest Margins and the World Agroforestry Centre looked at several of these questions at the island of Leyte in the Philippines. Boosting the productivity and sustainability of forestry and agroforestry, and improving policies and institutions that affect these are a key focus of the CGIAR’s Collaborative Research Project 6 on Trees, Forests and Agroforestry—of which the World Agroforestry Centre is a key partner.
Leyte province was selected as the study site because it was representative of upland environments that were intensively cultivated and heavily degraded, and in which farmers had started to plant native timber trees. The study found that agroforestation—planting trees on farms—in the Philippines has little chance of increasing tree cover while access to native forests provides timber resources. Where farmers had unrestricted access to nearby forests for timber, they saw no need to plant their own timber trees. The land controlled by the household—total area and number of parcels it was divided into—and tenure security are also key factors affecting farmers’ decisions to plant native timber trees on their farms. This means reforestation programs are more likely to be successful in areas with secure land tenure that are already deforested (or have high potential for degradation). The study also showed a positive link between access to markets and tree-planting activities.
In the Philippines, complicated government regulations and permit requirements are imposed on the harvest and use of farm-grown trees, but this did not seem to deter tree planting in the study area. Cultural and demographic aspects (such as education, age, experience with planting and managing tress, and whether farmers were migrants or long-time settlers) also made little difference to farmers’ decisions to plant trees, once farm size, closeness to forest and distance to market were accounted for.
The net loss of forests in Asia has halted. From 2000 to 2005, there was an annual net gain averaging just over 1 million hectares, to which China, India and Vietnam were major contributors. During the same period, Indonesia, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, and Myanmar all lost forest area. The Philippines is now showing signs of joining the trend towards reforestation and may be at the beginning of a national forest transition. Total forest cover in 2003 was 11% higher than the 1988 forest cover of 6.5 million hectare. Trees on farm can lead the way in a ‘forest transition’ in the Philippines.
However, for the farmer the economic benefits of growing trees are small. Profitability of on-farm tree production is negatively affected by policies that tax timber as a ‘forest product’ and subsidize food crops and fertilizers. For Philippine society as a whole, a more rapid tree transition would be economically viable if forest-based taxes and informal levies on getting farm-grown timber to the markets did not depress farm-gate prices. An interlinked review of agricultural and forest policies is needed to create conducive conditions for tree planting by farmers.
Submissions are now being accepted for WCA 2014 abstracts and posters through our dedicated abstracts portal. We will be displaying these on-site at the Congress in Delhi from February 10-14, 2014 at the Kempinski Ambience Shahdara hotel where the majority of the conference will take place.
Deadline for submissions is September 30, 2013. Interested participants are urged to apply early through our submissions portal here.
More details regarding poster size, abstract themes and guidelines can be found on the Abstracts page.
Congress schedule is announced for World Congress on Agroforestry, February 10-14, 2014 in Delhi. The four-day event looks to offer a broad array of activities fostering an unique opportunity for the business and research communities to interact.
The WCA 2014 is formatted to promote cross-disciplinary cooperation between science and innovation, food and nutrition, environmental protection, enterprise, knowledge and policy environment, and climate change.
The opening day's morning sessions are slated to take place at the Vigyan Bhavan conference Centre, followed by the afternoon sessions at the Kempinski Ambience Shahdara hotel, Delhi. Congress sessions from February 11th through the morning of February 13th will continue at the Kempinski hotel. Field trips throughout the South Asia region will take place from the afternoon of the 13th through the 14th.
For full draft agenda details see here.
Nairobi, Kenya – The World Agroforestry Centre announces its congress taking place in February 2014 in Delhi in association with the Indian Council on Agricultural Research. The congress aims to accelerate the contribution that trees can make to world development.
The Congress will attract 1200 participants, drawn from the private sector, NGOs, policy makers and stakeholders all looking to share the current state of knowledge and accelerate the positive financial, environmental and social impacts of agroforestry. It will create conditions for these stakeholders to engage effectively in discussions that answer the question "How can agroforestry make a difference?"
Using trees in a new global agriculture will shape a better future. This global congress will accelerate the use of trees in agriculture to meet the food needs of a burgeoning world population. WCA will showcase the most recent and significant work on agroforestry, and aims to deliver state-of-the-art analysis, inspiring visions and innovative research methods arising from interdisciplinary research.
Agroforestry has the opportunity to transform lives and our environment as trees play a fundamental role in almost all the Earth's ecosystems and provide a range of benefits to rural and urban people. Landscapes without trees can quickly erode into barren, unproductive expanses. As well as bringing many environmental benefits, adding trees to agriculture can be highly profitable, producing valuable fruit, fodder, oil, timber, medicinals and fuels, as well as valuable commodities such as coffee, cocoa and rubber.
Public-private sector partnerships established at WCA give both parties a chance to sustainably increase yields and accomplish greater returns for both the farmers and corporate actors. Few of the 9 billion people who will be around in 2050 will be able to live sustainably without relying in a significant way on trees. The clock is ticking, and WCA is ahead of the game.
"The Congress will produce a global roadmap for agroforestry in the context of world development," said Dr Tony Simons, Director General of the World Agroforestry Centre. "For 2014 we want a whole different type of event and experience that will leave a deliberate and tangible legacy in terms of recognition, partnerships, investments and impact."
