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Major Agroforestry Systems of the Semiarid Tropics

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Tropical Agroforestry

Abstract

Agroforestry practices of the semiarid tropics are most often designed to control erosion, and to make water and moisture available to plants throughout the cropping cycle. Agrosilvopastoral systems, i.e, the deliberate introduction of livestock into tree-crop systems, are more common in the semiarid tropics than the humid tropics. For that reason, the most common agroforestry practices of the semiarid tropics include homegardens, shifting cultivation, parklands, alley cropping, shelterbelts systems, woody perennials on rangelands and pastures, plantation crops with pastures and livestock, living fences of woody perennials and hedges that are useable as fodder, multipurpose woody hedgerows, parklands, tree woodlots, woody perennials for soil conservation or reclamation and sloping agriculture land technology, multi-purpose tree based systems and perennial crop based systems. Other agroforestry systems are valued in semiarid tropics, including protein banks and apiforestry. The most important food crops that are grown in tree-crop systems in the semiarid tropics are cereals (maize, rice and various species of millet) or potatoes.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Renewable Resources, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

    Alain Atangana & Scott Chang

  2. Institute of Integrative and Systems Biology, Université Laval, 2208 Pavillon C.-E. Marchand, Quebec, G1V 0A6, Canada

    Alain Atangana

  3. Forest and Wood Sciences, Université Laval, Quebec, Québec, Canada

    Damase Khasa

  4. West and Central Africa Regional Program, World Agroforestry Centre, Yaounde, Cameroon

    Ann Degrande

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  1. Alain Atangana
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  2. Damase Khasa
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  3. Scott Chang
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  4. Ann Degrande
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Correspondence to Alain Atangana .

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Atangana, A., Khasa, D., Chang, S., Degrande, A. (2014). Major Agroforestry Systems of the Semiarid Tropics. In: Tropical Agroforestry. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7723-1_5

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