Agroforestry: A system to Sustainability of Agriculture and Forestryby | 04-02-2013 22:48 |
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Do you what agroforestry is? Agroforestry is a primary land management system combining agriculture and forestry. There are two syllables arranging ?agroforestry? word which are agro- and –forestry. Like above definition, agro and forestry are respectively, agriculture and forestry. So, at the same field, the farmers cultivate agriculture plants and multipurpose species of trees to benefit in social, economic and ecological realms. Furthermore, this system also is a sustainable management of community – based forest. It refers to a community who has willing to manage forest, e.g local tribes and local society so that the sustainability could be achieved. The real implementation at the field could be explained by firstly planting tree around particular field prepared well where it could be done by monoculture and heteroculture technique. The monoculture technique is the plantation similiar species of trees, i.e. mango or mahogany tree. You can choose and select them based on the site quality whereas the heteroculture technique allows some species of trees are planted at a same area. In the plantation, every tree needs spaces among others. As the consideration, the farmers must involve and engage experts in tree planting or silviculturists. They will assist you to plant trees that are suitable method of agroforestry. After trees planting, the farmers continue to cultivate some agriculture plants under under canopy of trees. The kinds of plans that could be cultivated such as bean, rice, herbal plants, fruits, and so forth. Overall methods in agriculture implementation could be considered based on the local plants that are appropriate site quality. It is alike executed with forestry methods. A sustainability is a concept that remain some mature considerations to an enduring value. It allows many interpretations to be defined exactly. In this term, the definition of sustainable agriculture and forestry is by implementing agroforestry system so that we benefit in the field of above three aspects. Threy are social, economic, and ecological benefits where it should be able to be inherited to the next generations. In addition, agroforestry also will give positive impact toward the sustainability of land uses after converting abandoned lands into agroforestry A return of agroforestry can be reviewed in the view of social, economic and ecological aspects. In the view of social aspect, agroforestry helps the farmers to job creations and assist to increase the social welfare of local communities. Meanwhile, in the view of economic side, agroforestry is able to increase the income of farmers and sometimes to help furniture industry in raw material (wood) stocks. In addition, as we review it in the ecological realms, it helps to increase biodiversity and mitigate glogal warming due to climate change. Written by: Achmad Solikhin Indonesian Greenaction Forum www.i-gaf.org |
