What is the concept of agroforestry?
Agroforestry is a collective name for land-use systems and technologies where woody perennials (trees, shrubs, palms, bamboos, etc.) are deliberately used on the same land-management units as agricultural crops and/or animals, in some form of spatial arrangement or temporal sequence.
Who is the father of agroforestry?
Agroforestry was formally outlined in the early 20th century by American economic geographer J. Russell Smith in his book Tree Crops: A Permanent Agriculture (1929).
Why do we study agroforestry?
Agroforestry systems can provide a range of environmental services. For example, they can improve soil fertility, protect crops and livestock from wind, restore degraded lands, improve water conservation, limit pests and prevent soil erosion.
What are benefits of agroforestry?
It has been practiced in the United States and around the world for centuries. Environmental benefits from agroforestry can include clean water by reducing nutrients in runoff, improved wildlife habitat, increased soil productivity by controlling wind and water erosion, and reduced off- site damage from spray drift.
Where is agroforestry used?
Agroforestry is the intentional integration of trees and shrubs into crop and animal farming systems to create environmental, economic, and social benefits. It has been practiced in the United States and around the world for centuries.
What are the three types of agroforestry?
Common types of agroforestry systems applied by landowners and land managers across the United States are silvopasture, alley cropping, forest farming, riparian forest buffers, and windbreaks. There are also several special applications worth consideration.
What are the types of agroforestry system?
In This Article Expand or collapse the “in this article” section Agroforestry Systems
- Tropical Agroforestry Systems.
- Temperate Agroforestry Systems.
- Northern Agroforestry Systems.
What are the basic components of agroforestry?
Components of Agroforestry
- Agrisilvicultural systems. In this system, the components are agricultural crops and tree crops intercropped between the trees.
- Silvopastoral systems.
- Protein Bank.
- A live fence of fodder trees and hedges.
- Trees and shrubs on pasture.
- Agrosilvopastoral systems.
- Home gardens.
- Woody hedgerows.
What are the characteristics of agroforestry?
general, agroforestry plays five major roles in conserving biodiversity: (1) agroforestry provides habitat for species that can tolerate a certain level of disturbance; (2) agrofor- estry helps preserve germplasm of sensitive species; (3) agroforestry helps reduce the rates of conversion of natural habitat by providing …
What characteristics should trees used for agroforestry have?
DESIRABLE CHARACTERISTICS FOR AGROFORESTRY
- Tree species selected should not interfere with soil moisture.
- Tree species should not compete for plant nutrients.
- Tree species should not compete for sunlight.
- Tree species should have high survival rate and easy establishment.
When was agroforestry invented?
It was introduced into South Africa as early as 1887 (Hailey, 1957) and was taken, from what was then Burma, to the Chittagong and Bengal areas in colonial India in 1890 (Raghavan, 1960).
How does agroforestry help climate change?
Agroforestry practices can reduce or remove significant amounts of GHGs through increased carbon storage in biomass above-ground and below-ground and in soil organic carbon (IPCC, 2019). Agroforestry stores more carbon than pastures and fields with annual crops, but less than forested areas (see Figure 1).
Is the global warming?
Global warming is the long-term heating of Earth’s climate system observed since the pre-industrial period (between 1850 and 1900) due to human activities, primarily fossil fuel burning, which increases heat-trapping greenhouse gas levels in Earth’s atmosphere.
How does agroforestry help the farmer?
Benefits of Agroforestry Agroforestry can increase farm profitability in several ways: the total output per unit area of tree/ crop/livestock combinations is greater than any single component alone. crops and livestock protected from the damaging effects of wind are more productive.
What do you mean by carbon sequestration?
Carbon sequestration is the process of capturing and storing atmospheric carbon dioxide. It is one method of reducing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere with the goal of reducing global climate change.
Where is carbon sequestration used?
Carbon Capture in Action Industrial processes where large-scale carbon capture has been demonstrated and is in commercial operation include coal gasification, ethanol production, fertilizer production, natural gas processing, refinery hydrogen production and, most recently, coal-fired power generation.
How is carbon offset?
What is carbon offsetting? Offsetting is a way of paying for others to reduce emissions or absorb CO2 to compensate for your own emissions. For example, by planting trees to suck carbon out of the atmosphere as they grow, or by delivering energy-efficient cooking stoves to communities in developing countries.