A Brief note on Agroforestry

AFTA says that agroforestry is an intensive land management system that gets the most out of the biological interactions that happen when trees, shrubs, crops, and/or livestock are all grown together. In North America, there are five main types of agroforestry: windbreaks, alley cropping, silvopasture, riparian buffers, and forest farming. Landowners can choose from a range of options within each agroforestry practices based on their own goals (e.g., whether to maximise the production of interplanted crops, animal forage, or trees)

Definition

Agroforestry is the name for a group of land-use systems and technologies in which woody perennials (trees, shrubs, palms, bamboos, etc.) are used on the same land-management units as crops and/or animals, either in a certain way in space or in a certain way in time. Agroforestry can also be thought of as a dynamic, ecologically based, natural resource management system. This system uses trees on farms and in the agricultural landscape to increase social, economic, and environmental benefits for all land users. Agroforestry is especially important for small-scale farmers and other rural people because it can help them get more food, make more money, and stay healthier. 

Benefits of Agroforestry

1. Food production that is both resilient and sustainable

Agroforestry is a lot more like natural ecosystems than monocultures, which only grow one crop over a large area of land. It works by letting different living things work together and grow. As trees and plants find ways to work together and help each other, this can lead to a rise in productivity. All of these things can make things better for plants, animals, and wildlife.

2. Increased productivity

Trees give the farmer an extra crop that protects him or her against bad crops. Fruit, nuts, or wood can be a backup source of income if the main crop fails because of bad luck, like a wet summer or a mild winter.

3. More space for wildlife

Wildlife has just as much right as we do to the land. If agroforestry lets farmers get the same amount of food from a smaller field, they could use the rest of the space to plant more trees and hedgerows for wildlife.

In some tests, these extra habitats have even helped get rid of pests by giving “friendly predators” a place to live. These predators eat or destroy pests that would otherwise eat crops.

 Advantages of agroforestry

#1 Fertile soil and closed  nutrient cycles

Soils are under enormous pressure. The intensive way of farming is based more on economics than on ecology, but it still involves living things that interact in complicated ways that we can’t simplify and copy in the same way. When we try to do this, we deplete soils of nutrients and damage their structure, which makes them less fertile and more likely to break down.

#2 Control of soil salinity

More than 900 million hectares of land around the world can’t be used for farming because the soil is too salty. This land is often left empty because it can’t grow common crops. But one of the main reasons why soils get saltier is that farming in areas with drier weather that depends on irrigation.

#3: Stopping runoff, managing water better, and making groundwater cleaner

Trees help water in so many ways. Their role in managing water can’t be done by anyone else. Adding trees to the food production system is often one of the best ways to make sure that the soil has the right amount of water to support crops.

Disadvantages of agroforestry

#1 Labour intensive system

For an agroforestry system to work, you need to know enough, plan ahead, and take care of the trees on a regular basis. When there are trees or bushes among the crops, the farm can’t be fully mechanised, which can be a bother for some farmers.

#2: It takes a long time to get paid.

There are not many bad things about agroforestry. But time is the main problem for people who want to grow trees and shrubs to make money. Agroforestry is never a quick “fix” because trees, unlike crops, need a long time to grow up before they can really do their job in the system.

#3 Limited possibilities to sell products

From many points of view, agroforestry is seriously undervalued and ignored. Many tree products don’t have good markets, which is one reason why farmers don’t want to switch to agroforestry. Part of the problem is that many of the goods made from agroforestry aren’t traded very often. They aren’t common, and it’s hard for farmers to sell them or find out how the market is changing. This makes it hard to know what will happen.

Conclusion:-

Agroforestry tries to make the most of good interactions, like mutualism and commensalism, and to cut down on bad ones, like animals eating crops and livestock and species fighting with each other. Positive interactions may make plants and animals less stressed, increase yields, keep soil in place, and catch water.