Abstract
Several definitions have been proposed to agroforestry, of which the most commonly used are those of Lundgreen and Raintree (Agricultural research for development: potentials and challenges in Asia, 1982, pp 37–49) and Leakey (Agroforest Today 8:1, 1996). Agroforestry is any land-use system, practice or technology, where woody perennials are integrated with agricultural crops and/or animals in the same land management unit, in some form of spatial arrangement or temporal sequence. Agroforestry is also a dynamic and ecologically -based natural resource management system. Agroforestry refers to the deliberate introduction or retention of trees on farms to increase, diversify, and sustain production for increased social, economic, and environmental benefits. Agroforestry system classification can be based on vegetation structure, function of woody perennials in the system, levels of management input, and environmental conditions and ecological suitability of the system. Agroforestry practices rather than systems are also used as the unit of an ecologically -based classification that is rooted in the role of trees in agricultural landscape.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Bibliography
Khasa DP (2001) Bringing agroforestry into the 21st century: an overview. In: Clason T (ed) Proceedings of the 6th North American Agroforestry Conference. CD-ROM. Hot Springs, Arkansas, USA. pp 19–27 (June 12–16, 1999)
King KFS (1968) Agri-silviculture: the Taungya system. Bulletin No 1, Department of forestry, University of Ibadan, Nigeria
Leakey R (1996) Definition of agroforestry revisited. Agrofor Today 8:1
Lundgreen BO, Raintree JB (1982) Sustained agroforestry. In: Nestel B (ed) Agricultural research for development: potentials and challenges in Asia. ISNAR, The Hague, pp 37–49
Nair PKR (1985) Classification of agroforestry systems. Agrofor Syst 3(2):97–128
Nair PKR (1987) Agroforestry systems inventory. Agrofor Syst 5:301–317
Nair PKR (1993) An introduction to agroforestry. Kluwer, The Hague
Sinclair FL (1999) A general classification of agroforestry practice. Agrofor Syst 46:161–180
Wyant J (1996) Agroforestry-an ecological perspective. Agrofor Today 8:1
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Atangana, A., Khasa, D., Chang, S., Degrande, A. (2014). Definitions and Classification of Agroforestry Systems. In: Tropical Agroforestry. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7723-1_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7723-1_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-7722-4
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-7723-1
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)