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Technology Integrated into Agroforestry Systems Provides Multiple Benefits for Rural Counties
Introduction
Mankind survival has been supported by various revolutions (agricultural, industrial etc.) for continuous growth and expansion on Earth. Our natural resources are being exhausted from population increase. Food availability is a necessity that will become harder to obtain. The future will rely on applying technology to support population increase. Utilizing new developing technologies into agroforestry systems will fundamentally improve food production, generate higher revenue and will promote sustainability for long-term human existence. This could be essential for developing rural counties where livelihood is dependent on agroforestry systems. Incorporating technology into agroforestry systems is effective with numerous benefits. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the potential for benefits in agroforestry systems with assistance of 4 different technology applications in rural counties.
Most agroforestry systems intentions are for increase productivity and efficiency from their outputs that will provide some level of economic stability and livelihood. Four different types of agroforestry technologies that would aid in these practices include fertilizer tree systems, rotational woodlots, fodder banks, and indigenous fruit trees. Dr. Sharrow, professor at Oregon State University, explains his first law of agroforestry as “A good system is more than the sum of its parts” and implementing these technologies demonstrates this concept (2008 P. 2).
Discussion
Agriculture is the primary livelihood strategy for 85% of the rural population in developing regions (Quinion et al. 2010). One method that is being used in Africa i...
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...otational woodlot technology in northwestern tanzania: Tree species and crop performance. Agroforestry Systems 59, (3): 253-263, www.summon.com (accessed February 21, 2014).
Quinion, Ann, Paxie W. Chirwa, Festus K. Akinnifesi, and Oluyede C. Ajayi. 2010. Do agroforestry technologies improve the livelihoods of the resource poor farmers? evidence from kasungu and machinga districts of malawi. Agroforestry Systems 80, (3): 457-465, www.summon.com (accessed February 21, 2014).
Sharrow, S.H. 2008. “What is agroforestry?” DoctorRange.com-The Natural Resources Knowledge Site. http://www.DoctorRange.com.
Simitu, Parnwell. "Utilization and commercialization of dryland indigenous fruit tree species to improve livelihoods in East and Central Africa.." World agroforestry. http://www.worldagroforestry.org/eca/downloads/Kitui_workshop_report.pdf (accessed February 23, 2014).
Somalia is one of the world’s poorest and least developed countries (Campbell). Because of the Civil War, which broke out in 1991, much of Somalia’s economy has been devastated. The war left many homeless and drove them to raise livestock as a means of survival. The economy used to be based on exports of cattle, goats, and bananas but as of early 1992 much of the economic trade had come to a halt. Now the economy is primarily based on the raising of livestock, which accounts for 40% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (Alhaus). Due to overgrazing, soil erosion, and the clearing away of many trees, Somalia has very few natural resources, which have not been exploited.
World Food Programme. (2013). Comprehensive food security and vulnerability analysis (CFSVA): Uganda. Retrieved from http://documents.wfp.org/stellent/groups/public/documents/ena/wfp256989.pdf
Nierenberg, Danielle. "Factory farming in the developing world: In some critical respects, this is not progress at all." World Watch 1 May 2003: n. pag. eLibrary. Web. 3 Dec. 2013. .
Overall Central Africa’s dependence on agriculture could improve the wellbeing of the people but a long history of corruption, violence, and prevalent transportation issues have hindered an improvement in the economy resulting in poverty among the region. Poverty will not subside unless these issues are dealt with and improved.
Agriculture is the science and practice of producing crops and livestock. The primary aim of agriculture is to use the land to produce more abundantly to feed and clothe the world at the same time protecting it from deterioration or misuse. Humans had to improve agriculture as they became more dependent on food, creating a solitary evolutionary connection between plants and animals (Campbell and Reece, 2001). In this day and age, so many people have forgotten the authentic premises of survival. It is easy for some to believe that the grocery stores produce food and clothing is produced by shopping centers. These inaccurate presumptions are being made due to the lack of knowledge of how agriculture truly works. There are also significant differences in the levels of understanding between rural and urban communities.
...t support for realizing intensive, high-yield, high-quality, high-efficiency, ecological and safe agricultural, its main techniques such as RFID, photo acoustic electromagnetic sensors, "3S" technology, laser scanner, etc, can make great breakthrough on agricultural product safety, agriculture information transmission, intelligent detecting, intelligent
The rate of global deforestation is around 13 million hectares, most of which occurs in the developing world. enhanceing food sercuirty, poverty reduction and sustaneadle forest managment in ghana through non-timber forests products farming: case study of sefwi wiawso district at: www.grin.com/de/preview/.html.
It is reported that the C. Arabica shrubs in Ethiopia rainforest have more genetic materials than the commercial cultivars used to produce most coffee around the world. The C.arabica shrubs occur naturally in moist evergreen undergrowth of the Ethiopian Afromonate rain forest between 1000 and 2000 meters above sea level. This made Ethiopia the third largest C.arabica coffee producer next to Brazile and
Founou-Tchuigoua, Bernard Food self-sufficiency: Crisis of the collective ideology African agriculture: The critical choices. United Nations University Press (1990) ISBN 0-86232-798-9
...t too expensive for the farmers. The second step is that broader awareness is required. According to Sarah Alexander, “different farmers trust different sources, such as vendors, crop consultants, and university extension services.” Farmers are going to need to be open minded to new things, in order to feed the human race. The last step is farmers need the right incentives. Farmers want to know about the good that they are doing. Farmer’s want to know how they are saving the environment, and how they are producing more food, and feeding more people than they were before.
...earch and extension, rural infrastructure, and market access for small farmers. Rural investments have been sorely neglected in recent decades, and now is the time to reverse this trend. Farmers in many developing countries are operating in an environment of inadequate infrastructure like roads, electricity, and communications; poor soils; lack of storage and processing capacity; and little or no access to agricultural technologies that could increase their profits and improve their livelihoods. Recent unrest over food prices in a number of countries may tempt policymakers to put the interests of urban consumers over those of rural people, including farmers, but this approach would be shortsighted and counterproductive. Given the scale of investment needed, aid donors should also expand development assistance to agriculture, rural services, and science and technology.
As agriculture has become more intensive, farmers have become capable of producing higher yields using less labour and less land. Growth of the agriculture has not, however, been an unmixed blessing. It, like every other thing, has its pros and cons. Topsoil depletion, groundwater contamination, the decline of family farms, continued neglect of the living and working conditions for farm labourers, increasing costs of production, and the disintegration of economic and social conditions in rural communities. These are the cons of the new improved agriculture.
People have depended on agriculture for years as the primary source of getting food. We have developed all kinds of ways to manipulate nature so what we can produce higher yield crops, more nutritious crops, bigger crops, crops that withstand cold, and farming equipment that allows us to manufacture these crops with relative ease. Why then are there five billion people being malnourished and forty thousand children dying each day from hunger? It seems as though world hunger is more a result of the lack of distributing the food properly than the lack of quantity. agriculture has turned into a high profit business and biotech companies like Monsanto are constantly trying to come up with better and more efficient ways of farming. Are they doing this to try to solve the world hunger crisis, or merely to make a profit?
Agriculture is one of the most ancient forms of art and science that ties human development and well-being to natural resources and ecosystems. (Fritz J. Häni, 2007) Sustainable Agriculture is the production of food, fibre, plant and animal products using farming techniques that protect the environment, public health, human communities and animal welfare. (Sustainable Agriculture - The Basics, 2015) Sustainable agriculture is an integrated system of plant and animal production practices having a site – specific application that over the long term will:
What is agroforestry? Many people do not know what exactly agroforestry is. The answer is simple. Agroforestry is the combination of trees, crops, and/or livestock into a system which focus on the interactions between the components rather than the components themselves (Sharrow 1997). It is mostly practiced in developing countries where its ability to be used to produce several different outputs is critical to the farmers. Agroforestry is not practiced on the same scale that monoculture agriculture is practiced in the United States. It has several different systems that incorporate the different components in different ways. There are several different applications of agroforestry in the United States, however, silvopastoral agroforestry in the United States is the focus of this paper. Silvopastoral systems combine trees with animal agriculture for several different outputs (Sharrow 2008). It can be used to produce timber outputs such as lumber, pulp, or biomass. It also allows for livestock agriculture outputs to be generated as well. Silvopastoral agroforestry provides many benefits that single resource management cannot provide such as more efficient nutrient use, increased revenue flow, increased diversity, increased resilience, increased livestock productivity, increased tree productivity, increased sustainability and environmental benefits (Cubbage, Balmelli, Bussoni et al. 2012). This paper discusses the benefits that can be provided by practicing Silvopastoral agroforestry in the agroforestry, and the incentives provided by application of Silvopastoral systems in the United States; particularly the benefits associated with livestock productivity and timber production.