Methodology development for evaluating agroforestry systems
1999
Lasco, R. | Paelmo, R. | Serrano, J. | Solarte, J. | Tuico, A. (Philippines Univ. Los Banos, College, Laguna (Philippines). Coll. of Forestry and Natural Resources)
The methodology developed in this project was found to be suitable for assessing whether an agroforestry system is potentially sustainable and could be extrapolated in other areas. Field testing of the methodology revealed that the soil conservation measure in both sites was insufficient. Erosion rate amounted to 199-382 t/ha for Mt. Makiling and 29-386 t/ha for Mt. Pulog. These exceeded the acceptable erosion rate of 12 t/ha per year. Both areas were found to have medium soil fertility. Average biomass production was 1,420 kg/ha in Mt. Makiling and 580 kg/ha in Bukidnon [Philippines]. The observed values were much lower than the critical biomass production value of 5,000 kg/ha per year for sub-humid tropics to maintain acceptable fertility level. With regard to farm income, six out of seven farmers indicated that the system more than compensated the resources spent by the family in the farm (ASER [agroforestry system efficiency ratio] = 1). Farm productivity could be measured through LER [land equivalent ratio] only if the agroforestry system was mature or if monoculture was present within the experimental site. For indigenous agroforestry technology, social acceptability was no longer valid as an indicator, instead the better method of assessing was to document the agroforestry systems practised and the local modification of the system. The indicator for adopted systems should be changed from a fixed number of one adopter to a percentage of the social system considered, which can be set to at least 30 percent, the proportion of the highly innovative farmers in a given social system
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