Indigenous and Community Based Agroforesty in Central America
There is more to agroforestry than the incorporation of the cultivation and conservation of trees. Agrogforestry is a way of farming that combines crops and/or livestock with silviculture. Such a combination leads to advantageous results: greatly improved habitat for humans and wildlife, bigger crop production, and better water quality. An added, but equally important benefit to the practice of agroforestry is providing farmers a diversified and a more secure source of income. It also leads to a healthier and more sustainable use of the land. In general, agroforestry is the common name for land use systems and practices where trees are purposely integrated with crops and/ or livestock on the same farm or land management unit. The integration can be executed through space distribution or allotment, or through a sequentially ordered schedule of crop planting and farming. In Central America, the practice of planting an average of two dozen species of plants on a small patch of land, usually, no bigger than one thousand square meters, has been a long-time tradition. Planting, for example, coconut trees, over a layer of lower fruit trees like banana, that is planted over layer of shrubbery such as coffee or cacao plants, and lastly over ground cover plants such as root crops. This intimate mixture of different plants, each with its own structure, mimics the layered configuration of naturally mixed tropical forests. There are several ways of incorporating agroforestry practices and here are a few that have been adopted from agroforestry practices dating back to Mayan times. Practices that include: alley cropping, forest farming, riparian forest buffers, silvopasture, and windbreaks. Planting farm crops such as grains and vegetables in narrow spaces or “alleys” between rows of trees is what alley cropping means. This practice is also known as intercropping or row cropping. Spaces between the rows are determined by the farmers based on the mature size of the trees. Also known as shade systems, forest farming is the sustainable, mixed planting of both timber and non-timber forest products within a forest setting. A selection of wild berries and fruits, mushrooms, and assorted plants used in landscaping, floral greenery, and pharmaceuticals are some of the non-forest crops that can be cultivated in a forest environment. Riparian forest buffers refer to protective environmental habitats within wetlands or adjacent to rivers and streams that help keep excessive sedimentation, polluted surface, and erosion at bay. These supply shelter and food to various aquatic animals, and also act as part of stream temperature regulation by providing shade. These wooded buffer zones along streams, rivers, and bays are sometimes referred to as “filterstrips.” Riparian forests acts as filters by catching soil, excess nutrients, and chemical components before they get seo services company to the waterways. These forests act as physical stabilizers of stream banks, and as a result, prevent or reduce erosion and flooding; also, these zones can be planted with crops that can generate income from both timber and non-timber products. The combination of grazing livestock such as cattle, sheep, and goat, within a larger system of anti-snoring mouth guard shrubs and trees fall under silvopastoral agroforestry. One of the oldest agroforestry systems used in temperate regions, this is also in place in Central America particularly for areas that have big cattle industries. Rows of trees planted along the edge of a field are often called windbreaks or shelterbelts. These trees help reduce the effects of wind on crops and on livestock that can include: soil erosion, water evaporation, and snow and freezing winds. In addition, windbreaks can provide permanent gas tankless water heater homes for insects that protect and pollinate crops. Agroforestry’s benefits are backed by studies in many fields such as: fisheries and wildlife, entomology, horticulture, plant pathology, agronomy, animal science, forestry, and agricultural economics. There are many benefits to integrating trees and shrubs with other treasure metal detector plants and /or livestock: it can create additional sources of income for farmers; increase job stability through the spread of farm labor throughout the year; increase biodiversity; improve soil fertility; enhance protection of soil, water, and wildlife; aid in the advances in medicine by increasing and improving access to pharmacological plants; advance the fight against hunger and poverty by increasing the production of products for consumption and sale; help reduce the speed of climate change as trees take in and store carbon at a faster rate than crops. Indigenous and community based agroforestry in Central America are the front-liners for reaping the clear benefits of the system. And although these benefits are clear-cut, the science and management of agroforestry in just now beginning to gain ground in agricultural and forestry communities. It is obvious that this field of biology should be the recipient of greater attention from both the scientific and environmental groups.