agroforestry agroecosystem analysis

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What is an agroecosystem? Biophysical and socioeconomic components Boundaries and hierarchies Structure and function History and legacy

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Page 1: Agroforestry agroecosystem analysis

What is an agroecosystem?

• Biophysical and socioeconomic components

• Boundaries and hierarchies• Structure and function• History and legacy

Page 2: Agroforestry agroecosystem analysis

Agroecosystem checklist (1) (Brookfield et al., 2002)

• Management: field types and edges; site and field surface preparation; soil and water conservation; soil fertility maintenance; planting materials; cropping patterns and rotations; weeds and weeding, pests and diseases; crop harvesting, processing, and storage; livestock; woodlots; fallow areas; wild areas

Page 3: Agroforestry agroecosystem analysis

Agroecosystem checklist (2) (Brookfield et al., 2002)

• Biophysical structure and processes: physical features at landscape and field levels; soil characteristics; soil erosion, degradation, and enhancement; microclimates

Page 4: Agroforestry agroecosystem analysis

Agroecosystem checklist (3) (Brookfield et al., 2002)

• Organization: land tenure; farmer gender; land ownership history; crop and tree ownership; land-use history; land-use intentions; types of livestock; off-farm employment; food security; water supplies; fuel supplies; labor supplies; transportation networks; marketing; decision-making processes

Page 5: Agroforestry agroecosystem analysis

How do trees and other perennials fit into agroecosystems?

Page 6: Agroforestry agroecosystem analysis

Agroecosystems are often studied as part of an effort

to change them

Page 7: Agroforestry agroecosystem analysis

The Evolution of Farming Systems Research (Hart, 2000)• Scale of target systems: from crop

populations to whole farms to communities and watersheds

• System performance criteria: from production to stability to sustainability

• Targeted beneficiaries: from ‘small farmers’ to men and women to future generations

• Relationships: recognition of hierarchies

Page 8: Agroforestry agroecosystem analysis

Sustainability in the Context of Farming Systems Research

(Hart, 2000)• A group of production technologies (e.g.

cover crops)• Maintenance of the natural resource base

upon which production depends• A measure of intergenerational equity

Page 9: Agroforestry agroecosystem analysis

Participatory Rural Appraisal

• ‘Empowering rather than extractive’• Outsiders as facilitators rather than

investigators• Information owned, analyzed, and used by

local people rather than outsiders• Often conducted by NGOs rather than

universities and government agencies

Page 10: Agroforestry agroecosystem analysis

Prototyping Integrated and Ecological Arable Farming Systems

(Vereijken, 1997)• Establish a hierarchy of objectives• Transform objectives into quantifiable

performance parameters• Design and test prototypes that link

socioeconomic and biophysical objectives with multi-faceted farming methods

• Place prototypes on pilot farms• Refine and adapt prototypes• Disseminate prototypes to other farms

Page 11: Agroforestry agroecosystem analysis

Components of a farm’s ‘identity card’ (Vereijken, 1997)

• Abiotic environmental characteristics (soil, water, and air quality)

• Non-agricultural species diversity (ecological infrastructure)

• Food supply (quality and quantity)• Health and safety (including pesticide

impacts)• Income and profit (farm and regional levels)

Page 12: Agroforestry agroecosystem analysis

Farming methods for I/EAFS• Multifunctional crop rotation• Nutrient balance• Ecological infrastructure: restoration

and maintenance of landscape elements

• Farm structural optimization (land, labor, capital goods, technologies)

Page 13: Agroforestry agroecosystem analysis

Principles of Agroeocosystem Analysis (Conway, 1986)

• It isn’t necessary to know everything about an agroecosystem in order to produce a realistic and useful analysis (‘optimal ignorance’).

• Understanding the behavior and important properties of an agroecosystem requires knowledge of only a few key functional relationships.

• Producing significant improvements in the performance of an agroecosystem requires changes in only a few key management decisions.

• Identification and understanding of these key relationships and decisions requires a limited number of key questions are defined and answered.

Page 14: Agroforestry agroecosystem analysis

Tractors and water buffaloes in Sri Lanka

(Senanayake, 1984; Conway, 1986)

• Land area for rice vs. land for wallows and non-crop vegetation

• Protein sources: buffalo milk, fish• Refugia for fish, snakes, lizards• Bund-boring crabs• Rats• Mosquitoes and malaria

Page 15: Agroforestry agroecosystem analysis

Agroecosystem Analysis: Tools (Conway, 1986)

• Diagrammatic history of the site, including major events• Maps and transects showing important features, including topography,

soils, land use, problems, opportunities• Seasonal calendars for climate, crop sequences, livestock, non-farm

activities, labor requirements, capital requirements, income, monthly prices

• Long-term graphs showing prices, yields, acreages, population trends (births, deaths, emigration, immigration)

• Bar diagrams showing sources of farm income, expenses on different types of production inputs, etc.

• Flow diagrams showing production and marketing chains, flows of income

• Decision trees depicting choice points, key factors• Venn diagrams depicting overlapping institutions affecting decision-

making

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A tentative plan (I)1. Develop awareness of ecological,

agronomic, and socio-economic components

2. Identify information needs and form information gathering groups

3. Identify tools for organizing and presenting information

4. Meet with farmers at ISU and/or on farm5. Assemble information, by groups

Page 23: Agroforestry agroecosystem analysis

A tentative plan (II)6. Present information to classmates at debriefing

following farm visits7. ‘Triangulate’ to determine accuracy of information8. Assemble conceptual models of farms as natural

resource/human activity systems: system boundaries, components, interactions, feedbacks, control points

9. Identify key questions, hypotheses, and possible changes

10. Assess impacts of proposed changes: ecological, agronomic, socioeconomic

Page 24: Agroforestry agroecosystem analysis

Some focal areas• Natural resources: soils, water sources and drainage, water

quality, non-cultivated species, agricultural and non-agricultural land use

• Crop and livestock systems: species, synergies and conflicts, economics, nutrient dynamics, pest management systems, calendars, buildings and machinery, product identity, target markets

• Family: structure, gender issues, needs, goals, constraints, decision processes, values, off-farm jobs, land tenure, credit and debt, assets

• Local community: neighbors, medical and educational services, social network, labor sources

• Private and producer organizations: inputs, marketing channels, consultants, financing, information

• Government: subsidies, quality assurance, regulations, information

• Local and regional history and future trajectories

Page 25: Agroforestry agroecosystem analysis

Tasks• Identify information gathering groups• Specify preferences for groups• Develop questions and framework for

interviews and on-farm surveys