The Costs and Benefits of Agroforestry to Farmers

Abstract

Deforestation, growing scarcity of tree products, and environmental degradation have created serious problems for rural land use in many developing countries. Agroforestry, a system in which/ woody perennials are grown on the same land as agricultural crops or livestock, has been increasingly enlisted in the campaign to meet these threats to the rural economy. Case studies of twenty-one agroforestry projects in six Central American and two Caribbean countries formed the empirical basis for the study described in this article. A focal point of analysis was the profitability of agroforestry for farmers as a crucial incentive to adoption. The findings indicate that many agroforestry practices are profitable under a broad range of conditions and are therefore likely to be widely applicable. Successful projects have worked with local communities, responding to local needs and preferences and offering farmers a broad basket of species and systenms from which to choose. Demonstration plots and the use of paratechnicians have been low-cost and effective means of technology transfer, and applied research has been imiportant in identifying techniques and practices suited to the region. Other findings have identified government regulation of tree harvesting and insecurity of tenure-though not lack of title in itself-as disincentives to adoption.

Engaging Simplifications: Community-Based Resource Management, Market Processes and State Agendas in Upland Southeast Asia

“…Some successful interventions are 12 described in Current (1995). Sato (2000:164) highlights the "late developers trap", in which candidates for agroforestry cannot return to their traditional practices, but neither are they permitted to "move forward in the same way that 'modern' farmers have done".…”

Crop commercialization and adoption of gum-arabic agroforestry and their effect on farming system in western Sudan

“…This implies that those famers who allocate more time to crop cultivation are less likely to practice gum Arabic agroforestry on their farm. This is because, labor needed for tree management operations coincides with labor demanded for agricultural operations (Current et al 1995).…”

Examining disadoption of gum arabic production in Sudan

“…During the 1970's gum production was the second important income source after annual crops but recently income from labor wage migration has gained increasing importance in most parts of the gum belt (Awouda 1999). Labor is frequently cited in the adoption literature as a constraint to agroforestry systems, because in many cases labor demand for tree management operation coincides with labor demand for other agricultural operations (Current et al 1995). However, in the case of gum agroforestry most labor input for the production of gum occurs during the dry season when there is little work in other agricultural crops.…”