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The Rediscovery of Agroforestry
| Article
# : |
11794 |
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Section : |
NATURAL SCIENCE
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| Issue
Date : |
4 / 1987 |
3,216 Words |
| Author
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Barbara Tufty
Barbara Tufty is a free-lance natural science writer
who lives in Washington, D.C. |
An ancient practice has been rediscovered that is changing large parts of the surface of the earth. Known as "agroforestry," this modern version of an old technology may help lessen hunger and poverty by bringing new fertility to wastelands.
·Along the steep hillsides of the island Flores, Indonesia, contoured rows of the leucaena hold the soil in place and shelter crops planted between them - corn, cassava, and coco yams. These hillsides, once covered with dense trees, had been severely deforested and abandoned to erosion, sparse shrubs, and weeds. Now they shimmer green in the sunlight, with water flowing again in nearby streams.
·Near an abandoned coral limestone quarry along the coast of Kenya, needle-leafed casuarina trees are slowly tempering the hostile, man-made conditions of weather-beaten coral rubble. Laboriously planted with pickaxes into the rock-hard quarry floor, these five-year-old trees now are reclaiming the cement-like soil, fixing nitrogen as fertilizer into the ground and providing tons of firewood.
·In the dense rain forests of tropical southern China, an experimental, multistory plantation started in the 1970s now nurtures a variety of trees, including rubber, cardamon, cinnamon, and camphor. Each plant was carefully selected for properties that stimulate and sustain the others. Some supply nutrients, some control diseases and pests, while others loosen the hard-packed soil with their roots and then keep it from washing away during heavy rains. Still others serve as windbreaks.
These three scenarios tell one story: agroforestry is successfully introducing trees along with crops and livestock in areas that would otherwise be barren and abandoned. By turning many marginal and forsaken lands into useful family farms, agroforestry may make possible significant improvements in living standards for impoverished residents of these and nearby regions.
Agroforestry is a system that uses a combination of woody plants, crops, and animals on the same piece of land. An integration of agriculture, forestry, and animal husbandry, it is as ancient as the time when Homo sapiens first began domesticating animals and cultivating fruits and seeds from nearby shrubs and trees. And it is as new as tomorrow's planting and careful pruning in tropical Africa, Brazil, and India, as well as in the temperate climates of Nepal, Europe, and the United
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