The importance of agroforestry education and training

Abstract

Sustainable agriculture should involve the successful management of resources for agriculture to satisfy changing human needs, while maintaining or enhancing the quality of the environment and conserving natural resources. The rapid depletion of forest resources and agricultural sustainability — two major global concerns — could be impacted significantly through agroforestry practices. Widespread application of agroforestry concepts and techniques offers great potential for helping to alleviate critical shortages of fuelwood and contributing to sustainable farming systems. There is a vital need to broaden the knowledge base of the subject of agroforestry in order to provide a more substantive basis for effective teaching and training programs. In a typical university organization, it is fairly easy to see how interdisciplinary research teams can be brought together to work on agroforestry projects. But how do we structure the education and training programs? The purpose of this conference is to address these issues and to guide the further evolution and development of agroforestry.