The business of agriculture means that you are constantly concerned about your yield. It all seems to rely on the fickle partnership that farmers have with nature. So taking care of the rands and cents also means taking care of the environment, such as increased biodiversity. This, in turn, results in improved soil health and ultimately, crop health. Useful techniques such as agroforestry have multiple benefits and are just one of the ways in which agripreneurs can enhance their yields.
Agroforestry is the practice of benefiting from the relationship between mainstream agriculture and trees. This relationship aims to counteract the negative effect that nature experiences from commercial farming and climate change, boosting yields, nutrition and food security.
Agroforestry can take the form of including trees in crop production, and farming on forest edges or in them.
What It Means for Farmers
Intercropping (the practice of adding a different crop type to an existing crop) with trees is one way to look at agroforestry. Trees are planted near or in fields to improve soil conditions in the form of carbon sequestration and to add moisture.
According to Sustainability, trees play numerous roles in ecosystems, such as preventing and reversing soil erosion. It highlights that trees increase water penetration and infiltration into the soil, preventing runoff and soil erosion.
What’s important here is to recognise that the trees capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and, via their roots, place it back into the soil. This is good for plants because the microbial community in the soil relies on carbon. The higher your microbial activity, the healthier your yield.
Between keeping soil together, extracting moisture from deep in the soil and helping with microbial activity, trees can form a vital part in making a farm drought-resistant.
Benefits of Agroforestry
Agroforestry or intercropping with trees has many benefits for farmers. The benefits of agroforestry are:
1. Trees Provide Biodiversity
When trees are planted along fields, it encourages biodiversity. Not only does it attract birds and other wildlife, which helps improve pest control. For example, a bird of prey can now perch on a tree from where it can attack rabbits that are damaging crop roots.
2. More Revenue, Same Space
Another advantage is that farmers can increase their revenue by using the exact same space. If crop trees, such as fruit or nut trees, are intercropped, farmers have a second crop that they can harvest and sell, but that takes up no extra space. What’s more, certain types of nuts and fruits are higher-value crops, meaning the price these harvests will fetch is higher than other field crops.
3. Eggs Aren’t All in One Basket
Farmers who are already exposed to volatile weather patterns know that where one crop fails, the entire farm is at risk. By diversifying with agroforestry, farmers can play a statistics game: It is better to diversify if the odds are that one crop fails, because the chances of all crops failing are relatively low.
Furthermore, you can have multiple streams of income just from one type of tree crop. Not only can fruit trees offer another income, but when their branches need to be trimmed, farmers can sell their sought-after wood for connoisseurs who use the wood for hot smoking meats.
4. Works for Livestock and Crops
Speaking of chickens, agroforestry is not only meant for crop farming. Livestock farmers can benefit too. If you already have a grove or orchard, you can add livestock such as goats, sheep or poultry to the farm. Grazing animals keep the plants such as grass under control while also fertilising the trees.
Chickens fertilise the soil while also helping keep the top soil loose while foraging for insects.
Additionally, trees can be planted to help stock farmers with added
Disadvantages of Agroforestry
Whenever you look at advantages, it’s important to also consider the disadvantages. The disadvantages of agroforestry are:
1. Additional Cost for Planting Trees
If you are not yet equipped with trees to enter agroforestry in a lucrative way, the cost of planting the young trees and waiting for them to ultimately provide a yield can be costly.
2. Additional Equipment Needed
Similar to the above-mentioned point, starting a new crop type or introducing livestock means that the farmer might not be equipped to deal with these harvests, crop care or animal handling. They will be required to purchase new equipment and specialised products.
3. Limited Research
Across Africa, various agricultural systems have started integrating agroforestry and shown promising results. Yet, there is limited research on the precise positive impact that these integrations have. This means that it is difficult to guarantee a precise percentage of improvements.
