Stages of agroforestry project design

There are 4 stages of agroforestry project design or procedures that are information collection, feasibility study or information analysis, technical designing of project and redesigning. These stages are described below:

1. Information collection

Information needed for agroforestry project design is bio-physical and socio-economic information. This information can be collected using primary (field survey and visit) and secondary sources (publication, report, papers etc.

2. Feasibility analysis

Information collected from the field and secondary sources should be analyzed. The main objectives of the feasibility analysis is to identify the advantage in economic and natural resource development, and to find out the existing problems or constraints of farmers, and potential of land use development based on the utilization of natural resources. Biophysical and socio-economic information will help to select best species and species combination, and spacing (Row to row, and plant to plant distance), target groups, agroforestry plot establishment methods and management policy for different biophysical condition and their development scale.

Site selection

Sites for agroforestry project implementation should be selected in consultation with farmers and other local and district level stakeholders (government office, I/NGOs and private sector) keeping in mind the following criteria:

• Availability of suitable lands (fertile soil and suitable climatic condition) needed for recommended agroforestry technology
• Solving farmer’s constraints
• Farmer’s needs and interest
• Beneficiary groups (poor, women, ethnic groups and dalits)
• Availability or potentiality for developing natural resources and their collection and trading place
• Motivated and interested people who wants to start agroforestry as a business
• Employment or just for meeting subsistence needs
• Government policy supporting agroforestry system
• Transportation access
• Have demonstration effects (high possibilities for farmer to farmer extension)
• Have communication facilities
• Market and market demand

Prioritization of agroforestry models

Different agroforestry models can be developed during feasibility analysis, and these models can be prioritized of using following criteria with score (1-5 score: very high – 5, high – 4, moderate – 3, poor – 2 and very poor – 1) in each criteria. Agroforestry models obtaining higher score will be selected as priority activities or model.

• Farmer’s needs and interest
• Availability of lands
• Possibility of selected technology implementation
• Resource availability/investment probability
• Sponsorship/support available
• Technical aspects (farmer’s skill and knowledge)
• Creativity and innovation
• Physical infrastructure (Road linkage)
• Beneficiaries groups (poor, dalits and women – 5, ethnic group – 3 and others – 1)
• Economic activities – Annual turnover, employment opportunity and profit level
• Market demand
• Government policy

Strategy or guidelines for designing and or implementing appropriate agroforestry systems

Strategy for designing appropriate agroforestry system in Terai, mid-hills and mountains of Nepal should be to improve livelihood of small land holders and how this system is related to food and income security; investigating whether livelihood systems can be improved which better meet the needs of a wider range of small farmers, women and disadvantaged groups and whether there is potential for incorporating those species which produce Non Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) into livelihood systems. However, the strategy for designing appropriate agroforestry systems in Terai, mid- hills and mountains of Nepal should be as follows:

• Agroforestry system designed for small farmers should be technically simple, economically viable, socially acceptable and environmentally sound.
• Empower farmers technically and socially
• Encourage coordination and linkages to implement agroforestry activities.
• Use those tree species, which reduce farmer’s main problems or constraints related to fodder and forage/ fire wood/ timber shortage and soil and water conservation etc.
• Use mixture of different species to meet the needs of farmers. Tree and crop species having high demand and market value should also be included.
• Use legume trees, shrubs and grasses to maintain or improve soil fertility.
• Adopt mix cropping practice including legume and non-legume agriculture crops.
• Use fast growing and deep rooted trees.
• Plant trees, grasses and crops along contour or across the slope to control soil erosion.
• Pruned materials or leaf litter should be mixed in soil to add organic matter into the soil.
• Hedge rows should be pruned at 75-100 cms height to reduce shading effects of trees to under storey crops.
• Synchronize the tree pruning or lopping time with nutrient requirement of crop plants.
• Adopt crop rotation practice.
• Upper slope of farm lands should be developed as wood lots.
• Grow cover crops or green manure crops in fallow areas.
• Arrange 4-8 meters row to row, and 2-3 meters plant to plant distances depending on slope of the lands. Only 4-5 meters row to row distance should be in sloppy lands form soil conservation point of view.
• Trees should be managed using appropriate silvicultural regimes such as singling, pruning, and thinning for timber species, and lopping, pollarding and coppicing for fodder species for reducing the shading effects of trees to under storey crops.

3. Technical designing

It includes species selection and combination, vertical species arrangement, horizontal deposition and temporal structure design etc, which are discussed below:

3.1. Species selection and combination

Tree species and crops should be selected to meet the farmer’s needs, and to improve the soil fertility and to increase productivity of both forestry and agricultural crops. The main principles of species combination should be as follows:

• Tree and agriculture crops intercropping
• Combine species for mutual relationship such as nitrogen fixation
• Select trees having less shading effects and root competition
• Understory crops should be shade tolerant
• Avoid species combination having Allelopathic

3.2. Vertical species arrangement

Modern agroforestry should be multistory use of space and sunlight, diversity of the flow of materials, energy and outputs. Principally, it involves selection of species to be planted in different vertical strata according to their height and light or shade tolerant capacity. The following points should be considered while designing multistory agroforestry systems:

• Species selected for upper layer should be tall and deep rooted with light crown cover. In this layer, trees like coconut, nuts, eucalyptus, sissoo etc should be the best species.
• Middle layer species (fruits, and fodder-Ipil Ipil and fuel wood-bakaino species) should be partially shade tolerant species.
• Ground level species should be shade tolerant species (like coffee, tea, cardamom etc) and agriculture crops like ginger, turmeric, yam, sweet potato, colocasia, pineapple etc, and forage crops like desmodium and forage peanut. These species should also be shallow rooted.
• Legume species should also be included in all desgn.

3.3. Horizontal deposition

It means horizontal arrangement of trees and crop species, in which rational proportion of trees (row to row and plant to plant distances), and agriculture crops should be arranged for better mutual relationship between trees and agriculture crops. Trees should be arranged in such a way that sunlight should be reached upto the understory crops.

During the design of an intercropping system with light loving agriculture crops in flat terraces, trees should be planted in North-South orientation with relatively wide space between trees rows, and plants.

3.4. Temporal structure

It means original design should be for some years, in which more trees should be planted initially, and later on this should be reduced by thinning operation to open canopy cover. In some cases, agriculture crops are grown for few years like in Taungya system.

3.5. Technical structure design

Technical structure of agroforestry includes the combination biotechnology (forest and agriculture technology) and engineering techniques, conventional and modern technology etc.  In case of gully rehabilitation through agroforestry practice, engineering structure may be needed for the sustainability of silvi-pastoral system.

• Regional model series design

It includes design agroforestry project for a community or region or a country, not only for a household or farm.

a) Formats for designing agroforestry project

Any activity that involves the use of resources during a specific time period for the purpose of producing a socio-economic return in the form of goods and services (NEDA, 1984) is known as project. For the design of such projects, following points need to be considered:

• Introduction or background information (including biophysical and socio-economic information)
• Purpose and goals  –     single (Specific) and multiple (Several)
• Objectives – to increase economic growth
  • to reduce poverty
  • to improve environment
• Outputs –     Area or households to be covered by agroforestry practice
• Relation –     Mutual relationship with other projects
• Methodology (Beneficiaries – small farmers, women and disadvantaged groups, working approach-group or individual household, time (strategic- long term and operational- short term), coordination and linkages for activities implementation, monitoring and evaluation etc.
• Activities – Seedling production, plantation establishment, capacity building etc.
• Financial requirement – budget

4. Redesigning

After designing agroforestry projects with proper trees and crop selection, planting methods (row to row distance, and plant to plant distance) and plantation and crop management prescriptions, this design should be presented and discussed with farmers and their association, government line agencies, I/NGOs and private sectors for their comments and recommendation. After getting their suggestions, the project should be redesigned.