The integration of trees and shrubs with crops and livestock.
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Agroforestry is the deliberate integration of trees and shrubs with crops and/or livestock on the same land-management unit. It combines agricultural and forestry technologies to create more diverse, productive, profitable, and sustainable land-use systems. Traditional forms have existed for millennia, from Mediterranean olive-and-grain systems to West African parklands and Southeast Asian homegardens, but the term was formalised in the 1970s by the International Council for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF, now CIFOR-ICRAF) in Nairobi. Common practices include alley cropping, where crops grow between rows of trees; silvopasture, combining trees with forage and grazing animals; windbreaks; riparian buffers; and shade-grown coffee or cocoa. Benefits include soil erosion control, carbon sequestration, microclimate moderation, diversified income, and habitat for pollinators and beneficial insects. Challenges include competition for water and nutrients, complex management, and delayed returns from slow-growing trees. Agroforestry is promoted by the FAO and the World Agroforestry Centre as a climate-smart strategy and is increasingly eligible for carbon-credit and sustainability-certification schemes.
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Alban
It can be any kind of trees or usually it for specific trees?
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