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Cinderella agroforestry systems

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Abstract

The underlying principles and traditional knowledge concerning indigenous agroforestry systems (AFS) around the world have been used successfully in the design of improved systems; but lately there has been a slow-down in that effort. Recognizing that Cinderella, by analogy, refers to an individual whose attributes were unrecognized or one who unexpectedly achieved success after a period of obscurity and neglect, we propose Cinderella agroforestry systems for such underexploited and “forgotten” AFS. In order to highlight their unrecognized potentials, a few such systems that are location-specific and little-known outside their areas of existence were selected from around the world. Each selected system is unique in terms of its production, environmental, and sociocultural attributes; but none had been described in quantitative terms of ecology and production. A qualitative SWOT (strengths–weaknesses–opportunities–threats) analysis of the systems showed several commonalities among them. While sustainability, multi-functionality, and high sociocultural values are common strengths, low levels of production and lack of research- and technology inputs to improve the system are the major weaknesses. The opportunities emanating from strengths and weaknesses are also common to all the systems; and “threats” to these systems arise mostly from ramifications of government policies. Given the acknowledged role of AFS in climate-smart agriculture and the current global momentum for working with communities to better manage landscapes, learning from success stories of the Cinderella AFS could suggest models for sustainable development, and efforts in that direction should also be incorporated into global agroforestry research agendas.

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Notes

  1. Note that there is a subtle difference between “system” and “practice”: a system is a specific local example of a practice; there is an enormously large number of agroforestry systems, but the specific practices that constitute them are few (Nair 1985; Young 1989). But, these two terms that used to be distinguished in the early stages of agroforestry development—1980s and 1990s—are now used rather synonymously in agroforestry literature.] The vast majority of agroforestry practices that have been discussed, described, and researched on fall under the “conventional” categories according to Nair’s “original” classification scheme (Nair 1985), later expanded as five AFS sub-groups (Nair 2012). The three original major groups of systems are agrisilvicultural (trees + crops), silvopastoral (trees + crops + animals), agrosilvopstoral (trees + crops + animals). The five expanded system groups are: Alley cropping and other forms of tree intercropping, multistrata systems of homegardens and shaded perennials, silvopasture (grazing and browsing forms), protective systems such as shelterbelts, windbreaks, and soil conservation systems, and agroforestry tree woodlots for fuel and fodder production and/or land reclamation (the subgroups under the first three groups are listed in Table 2). Various other terms are also used in agroforestry literature to refer to specific types of associations, notably in India where terms such as silvipasture, agri-horti, silvi-horti, horti-silvi, and so on are found in local literature.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Forest Resources and Conservation, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA

    P. K. Ramachandran Nair

  2. Institute of Wood Science and Technology, Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education, Bangalore, 560003, India

    Syam Viswanath & P. A. Lubina

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  1. P. K. Ramachandran Nair
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  2. Syam Viswanath
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  3. P. A. Lubina
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Correspondence to P. K. Ramachandran Nair.

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Table 3 Some significant publications on underexploited agroforestry species
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Nair, P.K.R., Viswanath, S. & Lubina, P.A. Cinderella agroforestry systems. Agroforest Syst 91, 901–917 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10457-016-9966-3

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