Spatial heterogeneity of soil quality within a Mediterranean alley cropping agroforestry system: Comparison with a monocropping system

The aim of this study is to assess agroforestry practices in Northwestern Nigeria with a view to bringing to light some salient features of the system for maximising benefits and improving livelihoods of smallholder farmers in the study area. A total of one hundred and sixty six smallholder farmers were sampled using random technique from five hundred and fifty farmers’ listed by the contact forum in the study area. Questionnaire was administered to the one hundred and sixty six smallholder farmers with a view to examining the level of farmers’ participation in agroforestry in six villages namely Kabobi and Garki in Katsina State, Bulangu and Abonabo in Jigawa State, Bobo in Zamfara State and Gulma in Kebbi State. Interview was also conducted with ten farmers in Bulangu, Kabobi and Gulma to provide explanations on the limitation to acceptance of agroforestry innovations in the study area. Data collected with the questionnaire was analysed using simple percentage and frequency in order to measure dispersion among sampled farmers. Data collected from the interview was coded, transcribed and presented in textual form in the paper. Result of the study revealed that seven agroforestry systems (alley cropping, boarder line planting, scattered planting, woodlot, apiculture, orchard and home garden) were practiced in the area. Orchard and home garden were not practiced in Kabobi, the northern most of the villages. It also indicated farmers’ level of participation for the seven identified technologies as follows: Alley cropping (25.63%), boarder line planting (16.25%), scattered trees on farmland (36.25%), woodlot (1.25%), orchard (1.88%), apiculture (8.75%) and home gardens (10.00%). The key factors limiting acceptance of innovations include: l) lack of tree seedling (25.00%), land tenure issues (17.50%), long tree gestation period of indigenous species (50.63%) and insect attack (06.88%). This study recommended that farmers should be educated more on agroforestry technologies through mass media programmes and ICT.

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Ecological services of agroforestry systems in selected upland farming communities in the Philippines

Biodiversitas Journal of Biological Diversity ◽

10.13057/biodiv/d210237 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 21 (2) ◽

Author(s):

Romnick Baliton ◽

LEILA LANDICHO ◽

Rowena Esperanza Cabahug ◽

ROSELYN F. PAELMO ◽

Kenneth Laruan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Carbon Stock ◽

Alley Cropping ◽

Diversity Index ◽

Agroforestry System ◽

Agroforestry Systems ◽

The Philippines ◽

Ecological Services ◽

Farming Communities ◽

Wiener Diversity Index ◽

Study Sites

Abstract. Baliton RS, Landicho LD, Cabahug RED, Paelmo RF, Laruan KA, Rodriguez RS, Visco RG, Castillo AKA. 2020. Ecological services of agroforestry systems in selected upland farming communities in the Philippines. Biodiversitas 21: 707-717. A study was conducted in three selected upland farming communities in Nueva Vizcaya, Benguet and Quezon, Philippines to assess the ecological services of agroforestry systems. Results showed that alley cropping was the dominant agroforestry system in Nueva Vizcaya, while vegetable-based and coffee-based multistorey systems were found prevailing in Benguet and Quezon provinces. Agrobiodiversity assessment revealed that the values of Shannon-Wiener diversity index of agroforestry systems in the three study sites were considered to be low to moderate, ranging from 2.21 to 2.71. This validates that the number of individuals per species in the agroforestry landscape was not evenly distributed. The means of biomass in the three study sites, ranging from 106.22-127 tons ha-1, were higher than that of agroforestry systems (102.80 tons ha-1) in the Philippines. The agroforestry systems in Nueva Vizcaya had the largest carbon stock of 57.15 ton C ha-1, followed by Quezon 52.96 ton C ha-1 and Benguet 47.80 ton C ha-1. These results are comparable to the overall mean of carbon stock of tree plantations (59.0 ton C ha-1) and higher than that of agroforestry systems in the Philippines, i.e., 45.4 ton C ha-1. Therefore, this article argues that the different agroforestry systems provide ecological services in the upland farming communities in the Philippines.

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