Agroforestry Modeling

Abstract

Agroforestry is a complex system that integrates biophysical, environmental, socio-economic and cultural factors. Agroforestry is also complex both functionally and economically. Therefore, sound decision-making is of high importance in agroforestry, whether it is related to species selection, components (i.e., trees and crops; trees and livestock; trees, crops and livestock) selection and integration, or maximization of benefits gained from applying agroforestry techniques. For these reasons, decision-making in agroforestry requires databases and tools for species selection, and expert systems (i.e., computer program that solves problems that normally require the abilities of human expert) to forecast different outcome scenarios. Many databases for species selection in agroforestry have been compiled and can be found on the ICRAF website. Several modeling tools exist for agroforestry research.