Course Learning Outcome
At the completion of this course the students should be in a position to understand how the various components in an agroforestry management system or technology interact and influence one another’s performance and that of the whole system. He/she should, therefore, be in a position to spearhead the planning, structuring and managing best set agroforestry practices that limit out negative influences while promoting the positive ones.
Course contents
Components of agroforestry systems/technologies (woody perennials, herbaceous crops, animals, insects, aquatic life-forms) including consideration for population density and longevity. Plant growth resources (i.e. sun-light, nutrients, moisture and space) requirements, availability, sources and flows. Component interactions in agroforestry: Influences/effects of system’s growth resources sharing (i.e. competition and incompatibility), management (i.e. weeding, pruning, thinning) and environment (i.e. pests, diseases, fire and other damages). Component interactions interfaces and how to limit out negative influences in well planned and managed agroforestry systems/technologies. Influence Agroforestry on biodiversity conservation, hydrological cycle, carbon sequestration and climate change.
Required Readings
1. Ong, C.K. and P. Huxley, 1996. Tree-Crop Interactions – A physiological approach.
CAB International/ICRAF. 386pp.
2. C.R. Elevitch and K.M. Wilkinson (2000).Agroforestry Guides for Pacific Islands:
Integrating Understorey Crops with Tree Crops. Permanent Agriculture Resources,
Holualoa, Hawaii Series.
Recommended Readings
1. C.R. Elevitch and K.M. Wilkinson (2000). Agroforestry Guides for Pacific Islands:
Introduction to Integrating Trees into Pacific Island Farm Systems. Permanent
Agriculture Resources, Holualoa, Hawaii Series.
2. L.E. Buck, J.P. Lassoie and E.C.M. Fernandes (1999). Agroforestry in Sustainable
Agricultural Systems. CRC Press LLC, New York,