Management of trees in agroforestry systems

Abstract

Many tree establishment efforts focus entirely on the planting process, and fail to consider the years of time and effort needed to care for the planted trees and to manage their growth. It is true that the cultivation of trees usually requires less work than crop cultivation. But trees planted on farms do require management, whatever the system, and this management can be very time consuming. The design process must ensure that farmers are aware of the demands of management and that they consider these before deciding to establish an agroforestry system. Growing trees requires a long-term commitment, sufficient resources and sound knowledge about how trees interact with their environments, including other components of agroforestry systems. In this section, we provide an overview of how to manage trees in agroforestry systems.