Criteria of Good Agroforestry Design

I) Productivity: There are many different ways to improve productivity with agroforestry viz., increased output of tree products, improved yields of associated crops, reduction of cropping system inputs, increased labor efficiency, diversification of production, satisfaction of basic needs and other measures of economic efficiency or achievement of biological potential.

ii) Sustainability: By seeking improvements in the sustainability of production systems, agroforestry can achieve its conservation goals while appealing directly to the motivation of low-income farmers, who may not always be interested in conservation for its own sake.

iii) Adoptability: No matter how technically elegant or environmentally sound an agroforestry design may be, nothing practical is achieved unless it is adopted by its intended users. This means that the technology has to fit the social as well as environmental characteristics of the land-use system for which it is designed.