steeringcommittee 1 backgroundpaper altieri
TRANSCRIPT
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Globally Important Ingenious Agricultural Heritage Systems
(GIAHS): extent, significance, and implications for
development
Miguel A. AltieriUniversity of California, Berkeley
Agroecosystems cover more than one quarter of the global land area, reaching about 5billion hectares. Agroecosystems are ecosystems in which eole have deliberately
selected cro lants and livestock animals to relace the natural flora and fauna. !ighly
simlified agroecosystems, "such as intensive cereal croing, orchards and lantations,and intensive livestock raising#, vary enormously in their intensity of human intervention,
from those with only low$intensity management "e.g. shifting cultivation, home gardens,
nomadic astoralism, traditional farms, rotational fallows and savanna mi%ed farming#,
and from those of middle$intensity management "including multile croing, mi%ed
horticulture, imroved asture mi%ed farming and alley farming#.
&ive criteria can be used to classify agroecosystems in a region' "(# the tyes of cro andlivestock) "*# the methods used to grow the cros "chemical or organic# and roduce the
livestock) "+# the relative intensity of use of labor, caital, and organiation, and the
resulting outut of roduct) "-# the disosal of the roducts for consumtion "whetherused for subsistence or sulement on the farm or sold for cash or other goods#) and "5#
the structures used to facilitate fanning oerations "orman (/0/#.
Based on these criteria, it is ossible to recognie seven main tyes of agricultural
systems in the world "1rigg (/0-, also see 2able ( for a more detailed classification#'
(. 3hifting cultivation systems*. 3emiermanent rain$fed croing systems+. 4ermanent rain$fed croing systems
-. Arable irrigation systems
5. 4erennial cro systems. 1raing systems
0. 3ystems with regulated led farming "alternating arable croing and sown
asture#.
3ystems - and 5 have evolved into habitats that are much simler in form and oorer in
secies than the others, which can be considered more diversified, ermanent, and less
disturbed. 6ithin the range of world agricultural systems, traditional olyculturesrequire less energy and e%ternal inuts than modern orchards, field cros, and vegetable
croing systems to achieve a similar level of desired stability. 2his greater stability
aarently results from certain ecological and management attributes inherent toolycultural systems. Modern systems require more radical modifications of their
structure to aroach a more diversified, less disturbed state.
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Across the world, agroecosystems differ in age, diversity, structure, and management. 7n
fact, there is great variability in basic ecological and agronomic atterns among the
various dominant agroecosystems. 7n general, agroecosystems that are more diverse,more ermanent, isolated, and managed with low inut technology "i.e. agroforestry
systems, traditional olycultures# take fuller advantage of work usually done by
ecological rocesses associated with higher biodiversity than highly simlified, inut$driven and disturbed systems "i.e. modern vegetable monocultures and orchards#.
7ncreasing human intervention has resulted in a deliberate reduction of the diversity oflant, microbial and animal secies in whole landscaes. 2he current dominance of
intensified cereal roduction has led to a significant reduction of diversity of secies and
of roduction systems. 3uch change in ecosystem diversity and comle%ity associated
with intensification affect a variety of ecosystem functions. Modern agriculture relies ona narrow range of cro secies and genetic varieties which have been bred for high yield,
including resonse to inorganic fertiliers and resistance to selected ests and diseases.
8ess intensive systems commonly incororate a wider range of secies and genotyes
which serve a variety of roduction goals and9or are used for differential e%loitation ofmicrohabitats, and for their resistance to diseases and ests. :ecreased lant diversity
often reduces the overall biomass and almost invariably the structural comle%ity of theecosystem. Also, decreases in the diversity of lant secies have lead to increased est
and disease roblems in many modern agroecosystems.
A hyothetical attern in est regulation according to agroecosystem temoral and satial
diversity is deicted in &igure (. According to this ;increasing robability for est
buildu; gradient, agroecosystems on the left side of the gradient are more biodiverse,
tend to be more amenable to maniulation since olycultures already contain many of thekey environmental factors required by natural enemies. 2here are, however habitat
maniulations that can introduce aroriate diversity into the imortant "but biodiversity
imoverished# grain, vegetable and row cro systems lying in the right half of &igure (.
7n the midst of these e%treme tyes of agriculture are regional microcosms of traditional
farming systems "i.e. in Mesoamerica, the Andean region, and the Amaon Basin, therice$based systems of Asia, and the silvoastoral systems of Africa# that have emerged
over centuries of cultural and biological evolution and reresent accumulated e%eriences
of easants interacting with the environment without access to e%ternal inuts, caital, or
scientific knowledge "Chang (/00) 6ilken (/
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microcosms of traditional agriculture also found in Asia and Africa comrise globally
imortant ingenious agricultural heritage systems "17A!3# and as such offer romising
models of sustainability as they romote biodiversity, thrive without agrochemicals, andsustain year$round yields "Altieri (///#. 17A!3 have resulted not only in outstanding
aesthetic beauty, maintenance of globally significant agricultural biodiversity, resilient
ecosystems and valuable cultural inheritance, but above all, in the sustained rovision ofmultile goods and services, food and livelihood security and quality of life for millions
of eole. :esite the onrush of moderniation and economic change, a few traditional
agricultural management and knowledge systems still survive. 2hese systems e%hibitimortant elements of sustainability, namely, they are well adated to their articular
environment, rely on local resources, are small$scale and decentralied, and tend to
conserve the natural resource base. 2herefore, these systems comrise a eolithic legacy
of considerable imortance, yet modern agriculture constantly threatens the sustainabilityof this inheritance. Because of their significance and the wealth and breadth of
accumulated knowledge and e%erience in the management and use of resources that
17A!3 reresent, it is imerative that they be considered globally significant resources
and should be rotected and reserved as well as allowed to evolve. 3uch ecological andcultural resource is of fundamental value for the future of humankind.
Te rural populations of GIAHS
17A!3 can be found, in articular, in highly oulated regions or in areas where the
oulation has, for various reasons, had to establish comle% and innovative land$use9management ractices e.g. due to geograhic isolation, fragile ecosystems, olitical
marginalisation, limited natural resources, and9or e%treme climatic conditions. 7n the
ma>ority of cases, 17A!3 have been under the management of resource$oor farmers
"easants and indigenous eole# with limited access to caital, technology orgovernment services.
Although estimates of the number and location of resource$oor farmers varyconsiderably, it is estimated that about (./ to *.* billion eole remain directly or
indirectly untouched by modern agricultural technology "4retty (//5#. 7n 8atin America,
the rural oulation is ro>ected to remain stable at (*5 million until the year *, butover (D of this oulation are oor and are e%ected to increase. 2he ro>ections for
Africa are even more dramatic. 2he ma>ority of the world@s rural oor "about +0 million
of the oorest# live in areas that are resource$oor, highly heterogeneous and risk$rone.
:esite the increasing industrialiation of agriculture, the great ma>ority of the farmersare easants, or small roducers, who still farm the valleys and sloes of rural landscaes
with traditional and subsistence methods. 2heir agricultural systems are small scale,
comle% and diverse and easants are confronted with many constraints. 2he worstoverty is often located in arid or semi$arid ones, and in mountains and hills that are
ecologically vulnerable "Conway (//0#. 2hese areas are remote from services and roads
and agricultural roductivity is often low on a cro$by$cro basis, although total farmoutut can be significant. 3uch resource$oor farmers and their comle% systems ose
secial research challenges and demand aroriate technologies "etting (//+#.
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7n 8atin America, easant roduction units reached about ( million in the late (/ority of farmers "many of them women# are smallholders with *9+ of all
farms below * hectares and /D of farms below ( hectares. Most small farmers
ractice low$resource agriculture based rimarily on the use of local resources, but thatmay make modest use of e%ternal inuts. 8ow$resource agriculture roduces the ma>ority
of grain) almost all root, tuber and lantain cros, and the ma>ority of legumes. Most
basic food cros are grown by small farmers with virtually no or little use of fertiliersand imroved seed "E2A (/ority of more than * million rice farmers who live in Asia, a few farm more
than * ha of rice. 7n China alone there are robably 05 million rice farmers who stillractice farming methods similar to those used more than one thousand years ago
"1reenland (/-0#. 8ocal cultivars, grown mostly on uland ecosystems and9or under
rainfed conditions make u the bulk of the rice roduced by Asian small farmers.
2able * deicts the millions of easants, family farmers and indigenous eole racticing
resource$conserving farming throughout the develoing world and their contribution to
food security. Many of the easants are located in areas characteried by 17A!3. 2he
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location and biodiversity features of 17A!3 reflect often rich and sometimes unique
agricultural biodiversity, within and between secies but also at ecosystem and landscae
level. !aving been founded on ancient agricultural civiliations, certain of these systemsare linked to imortant centers of origin and genetic diversity "2able +# of domesticated
lant and animal secies, the conservation of which is of great global value.
17A!3 are found throughout the develoing world, linked to centers of diversity. 3ome
of these systems include "see also more detailed descritions starting in age /#'
Eutstanding terraced mountain sides with rice and comle% agro$ecosystems in Asia, such as the Cordillera Mountain =ange, 4hiliines)
biodiverse systems in the !imalayas and Andes) and Mediterranean fruit
gardens.
Comle% agro$silvo$astoral and aquatic systems and diverse
troical9subtroical home gardens, roducing multile foods, medicines,
ornamentals and materials, e.g. Gast Halimantan and Butitingui, 7ndonesia)
highlands of =wanda and Uganda) 2iticaca in 4eru) Hayao in Brail.
2raditional soil and water management systems for agriculture, including
ancient water distribution systems allowing secialied and diverse
croing systems in 7ran) traditional valley bottom and wetland foodmanagement e.g. 8ake Chad, iger river basin and interior delta.
3ecialied dryland systems, including outstanding range9astoral
systems for the management of grasses, forage, water resources andadated indigenous animal races e.g. Maasai in Gast Africa) astoral
systems of 8adakh, 2ibet, arts of 7ndia, Mongolia and Iemen, as well as
oases in deserts of orth Africa and 3ahara and ingenious systems in ays:ogon, Mali and ays :iola, 3enegal.
!iodiversity features of GIAHSEne of the salient features of 17A!3 is their high degree of biodiversity. 3uch systemssuort a high degree of lant diversity in the form of olycultures and9or agroforestry
atterns "Chang (/00) Clawson (/
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3outheast Asia, farmers build raised beds to roduce dryland cros amid stris of rice
"Beets (/
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&armers also derive other benefits from weeds, such as increased gene flow between
cros and their relatives. 7n Me%ico, when the wind ollinates maie, natural crosses
occur with wild teosinte growing in the field borders, resulting in hybrid lants. Certainweeds are used directly to enhance the biological control of insect ests, as many
flowering weeds attract redators and arasites of ests to their ollen and nectar. Ether
farmers allow weeds such as goosegrass "Eleusine indica# in bean fields to reelEmpoasca leafhoers, or wildLupinus as a tra lant for the estiferous scarab beetle
"Macrodactylus s.#, which otherwise would attack corn "Altieri (//+#.
!owever, diversity is maintained not only within a cultivated area. Many farmers
maintain natural vegetation ad>acent to their fields, and thus obtain a significant ortion
of their subsistence requirements through gathering, fishing, and hunting in habitats that
surround their agricultural lots. &or the 4@urheecha 7ndians who live around 8ake4atcuaro in Me%ico, gathering is art of a comle% subsistence attern that is based on
multile uses of their natural resources. 2hese eole use at least **- secies of native
and naturalied vascular lants for dietary, medicinal, household, and fuel needs
"Caballero and Maes (/acent ecosystems, farmers accrue avariety of ecological services from surrounding natural vegetation. &or e%amle, in
western 1uatemala, the indigenous flora of the higher$elevation forests rovide valuable
native lants that serve as a source of organic matte to fertilier marginal soils, for eachyear farmers collect leaf litter from nearby forests and sread it over intensively croed
vegetable lots to imrove tilth and water retention. 3ome farmers may aly as much as
- metric tons of litter er hectare each year) rough calculations indicate that a hectare of
croed land requires the litter roduction of ( ha of regularly harvested forest "6ilken(/00#.
Clearly, traditional agricultural roduction commonly encomasses the multile uses ofboth natural and artificial ecosystems, where cro roduction lots and ad>acent habitats
are often integrated into a single agroecosystem.
"cological mecanisms underlying te productivity and sustainability of GIAHS
7n many areas, traditional farmers have develoed and9or inherited comle% farming
systems, adated to the local conditions heling them to sustainably manage harsh
environments and to meet their subsistence needs, without deending on mechaniation,chemical fertiliers, esticides or other technologies of modern agricultural science
"Altieri, (//5#. 7ndigenous farmers tend to combine various roduction systems as art
of a tyical household resource management scheme. Much research on the features ofthese systems suggests that a series of factors and characteristics underlie the
sustainability of multile use systems'
(. &arms are small in sie with a continuous roduction serving subsistence andmarket demands)
*. :iversified farm systems based on several croing systems, featuring mi%tures
of cros, trees, and9or animals with varietal and other genetic variability.
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+. Ma%imum and effective use of local resources and low deendence on off$farm
inuts)
-. !igh net energy yield because energy inuts are relatively low)5. 8abour is skilled and comlementary, drawn largely from the household or
community relations. :eendency on animal traction and manual labour shows
favourable energy inut9outut ratios). !eavy emhasis on recycling of nutrients and materials)
0. Building on natural ecological rocesses "e.g. succession# rather than struggling
against them.
A number of ecological interaction and ecosystem roerties emerge from such
diversified cro satial9temoral arrangements which in turn determine ecosystem
function. By interlanting, farmers achieve several roduction and conservationob>ectives simultaneously. 6ith cro mi%tures, farmers can take advantage of the ability
of croing systems to reuse their own stored nutrients and the tendency of certain cros
to enrich the soil with organic matter "&rancis (/
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characteristics. 8andraces are genetically more heterogeneous than modern cultivars and
can offer a variety of defenses against vulnerability "2hurston (//(#.
7ntegration of animals "cattle, swine, oultry# into farming systems in addition to
roviding milk, meat, and draft adds another troic level to the system, making it even
more comle%. Animals are fed cro residues and weeds with little negative imact oncro roductivity. 2his serves to turn otherwise unusable biomass into animal rotein.
Animals recycle the nutrient content of lants, transforming them into manure. 2he need
for animal fed also broadens the cro base to include lant secies useful for conservingsoil and water. 8egumes are often lanted to rovide quality forage but also serve to
imrove nitrogen content of soils "Beets (//#.
Specific examples of GIAHS around te #orld
$atin America
Chinamas of Me%ico
=aised field agriculture is an ancient food roduction system used e%tensively by theAtecs in the Falley of Me%ico but also found in China, 2hailand, and other areas to
e%loit the swamlands bordering lakes. Called chinampas in the Atec region, theseislands or raised latforms "from *.5 to ( meters wide and u to ( meters long#
were usually constructed with mud scraed from the surrounding swams or shallow
lakes. 2he Atecs built their latforms u to a height of .5 to .0 meters above waterlevels and reinforced the sides with osts interwoven with branches and with trees
lanted along the edges "Armillas (/0(#.
2he soil of the latforms is constantly enriched with organic matter roduced with theabundant aquatic lants, as well as with sediments and muck from the bottom of the
reservoirs. A ma>or source of organic matter today is the water hyacinth "Eichornia
crassipes#, caable of roducing u to / kg er hectare of dry matter daily.3ulemented with relatively small amounts of animal manure, the chinamas can be
made essentially self$sustaining. 2he animals, such as igs, chickens, and ducks, are ket
in small corrals and fed the e%cess or waste roduce from the chinamas. 2heir manureis incororated back into the latforms "1liessman et al. (/
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occur in low concentration in the water and storing them inside their tissue. 2he use of
these lants along with canal mud and muddy water "for irrigation# insures that an
adequate suly of nutrients is always available to the growing cros. 2hird, there islenty of water for the growing cro. 2he narrowness of the chinamas is a design
feature that ensures that water from the canal infiltrates the chinama, giving rise to a
one of moisture within reach of the cro@s roots. Gven if during the dry season the lakelevels fall below the rooting one, the narrowness of the chinama allows the chinamero
to irrigate from a canoe. &ourth, there is a large amount of individual care given to each
lant in the chinama. 3uch careful husbandry facilitates high yields "1liessman et al.(/
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*. corn9corn9otato or fallow)
+. and otato and barley9fava beans9corn9corn.
2he otato9fava9cereals belt is comosed of sites with stee sloes, located from +, to
+,
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Brail (//#. Iet, comared to other forms of troical agriculture, the research
conducted on kitchen gardens is scant, esecially regarding their ecological imortance
"1ome$4oma and Haus (//#.
Mi%ed tree systems or home gardens are common in the troical lowlands of Me%ico
where they constitute a common but understudied form of agriculture. 2hese systemsinvolve the lanting, translanting, saring, or rotecting of a variety of useful secies
"from tall canoy trees to ground cover and climbing vines# for the harvest of various
forest roducts, including firewood, food for the household and marketlace, medicines,and construction materials "1liessman (//#.
!ome gardens in Me%ico are lots of land that include a house surrounded by or ad>acent
to an area for raising a variety of lant secies and sometimes livestock. 2he homegarden is reresentative of a household@s needs and interests, roviding food, fodder,
firewood, market roducts, construction materials, medicines, and ornamental lants for
the household and local community. Many of the more common trees are those same
secies found in the surrounding natural forests, but new secies have been incororated,including aaya "Carica papaya#, guava ")sidium s.#, banana "Musa s.#, lemon
"Citrus limon#, and orange "Citrus aurantium#. 7n light gas or under the shade of trees, aseries of both indigenous and e%otic secies of herbs, shrubs, vines, and eihytes is
grown. 3eedlings from useful wild secies brought into the garden by the wind or
animals are often not weeded out and are subsequently integrated into the home gardensystem.
Ene of the most striking features of resent$day Mayan towns in the Iucatan 4eninsula is
the floral richness of the home gardens. 7n a survey of the home gardens in the town ofKuilub, -- secies were found where only (,(* secies are known for the whole state.
!ome gardens also rovide diverse environments where many wild secies of animals
and lants can live, although the diversity of secies deends on the sie of the gardensand the degree of management. Gstimated average family lots range from m* to
, m*. 2aking into consideration that most households in rural communities of the
Iucatan 4eninsula have some tye of home garden, local traditional ractices of orchardmanagement have already contributed to the forest cover in the eninsula and have the
otential for contributing more "1liessman (//#.
2he Moan Maya of southern Belie have kitchen gardens that are multi$storied andcontain a mi%ture of minor cros, fruits, ornamental, and medicinal lants. 8ike coffee
lantation with an overstory canoy, shrub, and canoy layers. Moan Mayan kitchen
contain doens of tree secies, shrubs, and herb secies, so they are more diverse thancoffee lantations, in which the overstory layer usually contains >ust a few secies. 2rees
are usually the most imortant comonent of Moan Mayan kitchen gardens, usually
containing +5$- secies. &ruit trees are the most common in the kitchen gardens, withtimber and ornamental trees making u a smaller ercentage. A dominant grou of trees
in most gardens include the coconut alm "Cocos nucifera#, aaya "Carica papaya#,
mango "Mangifera indica#, orange "Citrus sinsenis#, cacao "%heo!roma cacao#, avocado
")ersea americana#, custard ale "Annona reticulata#, calabash "Crescentia cuiete#,
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mammee ale "Mammea americana#, breadfruit "Artocarpus altilis#, coffee "Coffea
ara!ica#, and several alm secies in both the canoy and shrub layer. 4alms often
rovide fruit during times of the year when other trees are barren.
Coffee systems of Me#ico and Central America
7n Mesoamerica, coffee is cultivated on the coastal sloes of the central and southernarts of the region in areas where two or more tyes of vegetation make contact. Based
on management level and vegetational and structural comle%ity, it is ossible todistinguish five main coffee roduction systems in Me%ico' two kinds of traditional
shaded agroforests "with native trees#, one commercially oriented olysecific shaded
system, and two modern systems "shaded and unshaded monocultures#. 2raditional
shaded coffee is cultivated rincially by small$scale, community$based growers, most ofwhom belong to some indigenous culture grou. 2raditional shaded coffee lantations
are imortant reositories of biological richness for grous such as trees and eihytes,
mammals, birds, retiles, amhibians, and arthroods. 7n Me%ico, coffee fields arelocated in a biogeograhically and ecologically strategic elevational belt that is an area of
overla between the troical and temerate elements and of contact among the four main
tyes of Me%ican forests. Betewen D and 0D of these coffee areas are undertraditional management and many coffee regions have been selected by e%erts as having
high numbers of secies and endemics overla with or are near traditional coffee$growing
areas. =egretably, original levels of biodiversity are being lost as coffee systems convert
into modern coffee lantations.
As with other ma>or ecosystem transformations in troical latitudes, the transformation of
the coffee agroecosystem involves sectacular landscae changes. 7n the modernmonocultural system that is being romoted all over the world, all the shade trees are
eliminated, the traditional coffee varieties are relaced by new sun$tolerant and shorter
varieties, which are genetically homongeneous and runed either by row or by lot, andare heavily deendent on agrochemicals, esecially herbicides and fertiliers.
Agroforestry in tropical South America7n 3outh America lant associations that resemble the contemorary and urosefully
ursued agroforestry alternative have been in use since re$!isanic times by the
Amerindians, and even the agricultural techniques emloyed by the Amaon basin
7ndians today qualify as agroforestry systems.
2he agroforsetry systems that function in the humid Amaonian lowlands are largely
based on the mi%ing of tree secies with assured cash value for their wood or theirroducts "rubber in the case of (e*ea !rasilensis# or by the association of shade trees of
otential timber value with tree cros such as cacao, eer or coffee. 4articularly
convenient is the combination of cacao withErythrina, a legume that rovides much ofthe nitrogen demanded by the cacao trees, and the use of Cordia alliodoraas a shade tree
with good returns as a timber secies. 4eer, which tolerates a ma%imum of * ercent
shading, can be grown under Erythrina and +liricidiatrees that are easily runed and
rovide additional income from their wood. Coffee has been traditionally associated withErythrinaand +liricidia"!echt (/
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Agroforestry systems in the non$Brailian segments of the 3outh American troical
lowlands have also develoed locally, although less elaborate and diverse. En the
margins of the Amaon =iver, close to 7quitos, 4eruvian Amaonia, different vegetalsecies have been grown in associations. Umari ")araguei!a sericea#, uvilla ")ourouma
cecropiaefolia# and Brail nuts are grown for their fruits, and their wood is used for
charcoal. 7n the shade of Bactric gasipaes, Inga edulisor cashew, food stales such asmanioc, lantains, and rice are cultivated. 7t is also common to find aaya, ineale
and assion fruit in the shade of Amaonian alms "4adoch et al. (/
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2he techniques used for rice9fish culture differ considerably from country to country and
from region to region. 7n general, e%loitation of rice field fisheries may be classified as
captural or cultural "4ullin and 3hehadeh (/u "(/
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rambutan and breadfruit, with a lower story of bananas and eer vines, and a eriheral
ground story of maie, cassava, beans, ineales and other, often sulemented by an
outside field of addy rice "McConnell and :harmaala (/0
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and lantain cros, and the ma>ority of food legumes are roduced on low$resource
farms. 7n addition, a great variety of secondary cros such as fruits and vegetable are
grown under low$resource conditions to sulement these stales.
An estimated 05 ercent of all livestock in 3ub$3aharan Africa is raised on farms where
cro roduction is the rincile source of subsistence, and livestock are an imortantsource of cash income. Many of these livestock receive little sulementary feed or
health care and their roduction can be considered low inut. 2he ma>or food farming
systems include shifting cultivation, the bush fallow system or land rotation, the lantedfallow system, comound or homestead farming, terrace farming, flood land cultivation,
and transhumance astoralism. 2able 5 summaries ma>or characteristics of each system
and indicates the driving forces undermining its stability.
By far the most imortant system of farming is the bush fallow system, which is widely
racticed in all ecological regions of 3ub$3aharan Africa. Although no distinction is
usually made between shifting cultivation and bush fallow, the latter is a more intensive
system. 7t involves rotation of land within fi%ed farmland, whereas shifting cultivation inits original form was characteried by movement of cultivators from one site to another in
search of virgin land without making a conscious attemt to return to former cultivatedsites.
2he bush fallow system is an e%tensive system of food cro roduction in which naturalforest, secondary forest, or oen woodlands are cleared and burnt. 2his system is often
called slash$and$burn agriculture. &armers carefully select sites for cultivation using
indicator lants as guides, >udging the lu%uriance of lant growth and the volume of
vegetable material that will roduce the best chemical$yielding ash when burnt.2emorary clearings are cultivated until cro yields begin to decline, usually after two or
three croing seasons when the soil fertility begins to fall. 2hen the land is abandoned
to return to forest or bush fallow for a eriod ranging from - to * years. :uring thefallow eriod, conditions such as low soil fertility, weeds, or est outbreaks are overcome
"3anche (/0#. 2he system deends on natural caital with no e%ternal inuts. 2he
farm imlements are simle' hoe, machete, a%, and dibble stick.
2oday, as a result of increased oulation ressure, fallow eriods are being reduced.
6here fallow eriod are too shortless than two yearssoil fertility deteriorates and
cro yields decline. Between (/
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from about (( ercent of the total area in the mid$(/5s to +- ercent in (//
"Mortimore (//5#. 2here are a number of reasons why agricultural e%ansion on this
scale cannot be sustained.
2raditional Marka systems in the 3ahel
2he climate in the 3ahel region of Africa, made u in art by what is now Mali andiger, is very dry. Average rainfall is less than mm er year. As a result, the
welfare of the Marka, a local ethnic grou who are e%erts in the cultivation of rice, is
highly influenced by climatic fluctuations. 2hey have been cultivating native rice sincerehistoric times, and they make comle% and sohisticated decisions about when to
lant and what varieties to lant "Mc7ntosh (//+#. 2heir decisions are influenced by
environmental cluesdifferent varieties of rice have different vegetative eriods,
different adatations to various flood deths, flood timing, ! tolerance, and fishredation. :ifferent varieties are sown at different time intervals on different soil tyes.
2he knowledge that the Marka ossess about rice and its cultivation is secret and has
been develoed over a long eriod of time. 7t is a means of maintaining a secific ethnicidentity. 3ocial relations with other grous have become instituted as buffering
mechanisms against otential bad times, allowing trade to occur without the necessity ofimmediate equal comensation. 2his buffering is useful, for e%amle, with the Boo
fishers who trade labor, goods, and services because weather that favors one grou may
disfavor the other.
Another imortant asect of the Marka system is rioritied tenure on roerty held in
common with the entire ethnic grou. A hierarchical system riorities access to land,
and the rules regulating access to common roerty have been encoded into local 7slamiclaw. 4rioritied access ensures that those with the secialied knowledge are those that
make decisions on varieties of rice to be lanted, as well as the timing of the lanting
"4ark (//*#.
Agroforestry in troical Africa
7n Africa, regional differentiations are reflected in the combinations of trees andagricultural cros that revail in articular landscaes. 7n the oulated humid troical
belt of western Africa, articularly on the northern edge of the 1ulf of 1uinea where the
density rises above
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?Managed taungya@ makes intensive use of certain tree secies for rotection against
wind or e%cessive insolation, such as +melina ar!orea, one of the most utilied trees in
African agroforestry or %erminalia super!aandAl!izzia spp Ether secies, such as thewoody legumeLeucaena leucocephalaand +liricidia sepium, hel restore fertility to the
soil. +melina ar!oreaaears to be beneficial when lanted at articularly convenient
intersaces with yams and maie, but not in combination with manioc "Agbede and E>o(/
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raised for food or for sale. 4astures, cro residues, and cut feeds suort animal
roduction.
3everal other benefits accrue from agroastoral systems. 7n effect, incororation of
livestock into farming systems adds another trohic level to the system. Animals can be
fed lant residues, weeds, and fallows with little imact on cro roductivity. 2his servesto turn otherwise unusable biomass into animal rotein, esecially in the case of
ruminants. Animals recycle the nutrient content of lants, transforming them into manure
and allowing a broader range of fertiliation alternatives in managing farm nutrients. 2heneed for animal feed also broadens the cro base to include secies useful for conserving
soil and water. 8egumes are often lanted to rovide quality forage and serve to imrove
nitrogen content in soils.
Beyond their agroecological interactions with cros, animals serve other imortant roles
in the farm economy. 2hey roduce income from meat, milk, and fiber. 8ivestock
increase in value over time and can be sold for cash in times of need or urchased when
cash is available "Mc:owell and !ildebrand (/
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At least since the ninth century, 4ortuguese easants have develoed comle% farming
systems, the sustainability of which has stood the test of time. 2hese traditional
agroecosystems, which consist of cro olycultures surrounded by vines "2itis *inifera#uon tree$hosts, reflect the riorities of easant farmers, meeting the needs of a simle,
largely self$sufficient easant society. 2hese vineyard$based agroforestry systems are
found mainly in the designated regions of ?Finho verde@ including Minho and a ortionof northern Beira 8itoral "3tanislawski (/0#.
Finho verde graes traditionally are grown on trees bordering cro fields. 2hecombination of high vine and maie is characteristic of the area. 2here are a number of
traditional agroforestry atterns, all of which reresent an ingenious resonse to land
constraints by allowing vertical agriculture "3tanislawski (/0#'
(. Association of vines and trees disersed within fields. 2his simle systemconsists of a tree with -$< vines lanted around the base. 2he vines ascend and
follow the branches.
*. 2he ?festoon@ system where younger cross$branches of the vines >oin together
every year from the nearest trees lanted along field margins.+. 2he ?ar>oado@ system is a form of festoon, but with vertical wires attached to the
wire that runs between the trees. 7n addition to lanting vines against the treetrunks, several vines can be lanted in the intervening area.
-. 7n the ?ramada@ system, graes are grown on elevated arbors "about three meters
high and four meters wide# suorted by stone columns with iron crossbarsconnected to steel wires.
7n systems a$c, referred host trees are 4ortuguese Eak "1uercus lusitanica#, elm "$lmus
s.#, olar ")opulus s.#, and wild cherry ")runus s.#. 2he trees tolerate heavytrimming, have dee roots, grow fast and are long lived. Most yield roducts such as
wood, bark, and fruits. Many trees rovide additional benefits such as altering the
microclimate "intercetion of winds and lower evaoration rates# and rotecting vinesfrom winter frosts of the valley bottom. 2rees can also reduce disersion of weed seeds,
insects, and athogen inocula by forming a hysical barrier.
2he centers of the fields are available for grain "mostly maie, 3ea mays#, legumes, and
vegetables. ormal cro rotations include oat grain "(olcus lanatus#, rye grain "Lolium
multiflorum# and the legumes "rnithopus sati*a and %rifolium incarnatum, all used as
fodder. 3ome fields are left fallow for the growth of volunteer legumes, "mostly seciesof $le# and Spartium# used fro ?cattle beds@ in the stalls. After semi$decomosed
materials fo the beds are worked into the soil of the farms as organic amendment.
&ommon features of GIAHS
Many of the above described traditional agroecosystems considered 17A!3 are small$
scale, geograhically discontinuous, located on a multitude of different sloes,microclimates, elevational ones, soil tyes, surrounded by many different vegetation
associations. 2he combinations of diverse hysical factors are numerous and are
reflected in the diverse croing atterns chosen by farmers to e%loit site$secific
characteristics. Many of the systems are surrounded by hysical barriers "i.e. forest,
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river, mountain, etc.# and therefore are relatively isolated from other areas where the
same cros are grown in large scale. 3mall farmers living in 17A!3 dominated areas are
more likely to lant various cros on the same field, lant multile times during the year,and integrate cros, livestock, and even aquaculture, making more intensive use of sace
and time.
Most 17A!3 have roved to be sustainable in their historical and ecological conte%t
"Co% and Atkins (/0/#. Although the systems evolved in very different times and
geograhical areas, they share structural and functional commonalities "Beets (/
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reserve, within or ad>acent to their roerties, areas of natural ecosystems "forests,
hillsides, lakes, grasslands, streamways, swams, etc.# that contribute valuable food
sulements, construction material, medicines, organic fertiliers, fuels, religious items,etc. "2oledo et al. (/acent ecosystems
constitute a continuum where lant gathering, fishing, and cro roduction are actively
undertaken. &or many easant societies agriculture is considered a art of a biggersystem of land use. &or e%amle, the 4@urheecha 7ndians who live in the region of lake
4atcuaro in Michoacan, Me%ico, in addition to agriculture, include gathering a art of
their comle% subsistence attern based on multile uses of their natural resources"Caballero and Maes (/acent to a cro field, for e%amle, can harbour
oulations of natural enemies, which can move into the field and arasitie or rey uon
est oulations "Altieri (//-#. A riarian corridor vegetated by native lant secies canfilter out dissolved fertilier nutrients leaching from cro fields, romote the resence of
beneficial secies, and allow the movement of native animal secies into and through theagricultural comonents of the landscae. 7n fact several studies have shown that such
vegetation ermits easy emigration of natural enemies of insect ests from the
surrounding >ungle "Altieri (/
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(. 7ncrease agricultural roductivity)
*. Build stability, robustness, and sustainability of farming systems)
+. Contribute to sound est and disease management)-. Conserve soil and increase natural soil fertility and soil health)
5. :iversify roducts and income oortunities from farms)
. Add economic value and increase net returns to farmers)0. =educe or sread risks to individuals, communities, and nations)
ect reviving the Oueungal method, an
ancient agricultural system, sared about
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imortant habitat for eotroical migratory bird secies that winter or ass through
Belie. Around Moan villages, kitchen gardens are sometimes the only forest that
remains with any structural comle%ity. Although kitchen gardens may not houseavifauna that require large tracts of unbroken forest habitat, any habitat that suorts
secies whose numbers are in decline should be considered imortant.
8earning how to manage an agriculture that romotes both environmental as well as
roductive functions will require inuts from discilines not reviously e%loited by
scientists, including agroecology, ethnoscience, conservation biology, and landscaeecology. 2he bottom line, however, is that agriculture must adot ecologically sound
management ractices, including diversified croing systems, biological control, and
organic soil management as relacements for synthetic esticides, fertiliers, and other
chemicals. Enly with such a foundation can we attain the goal of a multifunctionalagriculture.
Some efforts aimed at preserving or vitali'ing GIAHS
By understanding the common features of traditional agriculture, such as the caacity tobear risk, the use of biological folk ta%onomies, and the roduction efficiencies derived
from multile and symbiotic cro mi%tures, agricultural scientists have been able todevelo technologies that suort the needs and circumstances of secific farmer grous.
6hile subsistence farming generally lacks the otential for roducing a meaningful
marketable surlus, ti does ensure food security. Many scientists wrongly believe thattraditional systems do not roduce more because hand tools and draft animals ut a
ceiling on roductivity. !owever, where roductivity is low, the cause aears to be
social, not technical. 6hen the subsistence farmer succeeds in roviding food, there is
no ressure to innovate or to enhance yields. Iet research shows that increasedroductivity is ossible when traditional cro and animal combinations are ad>usted and
when labor and local resources are used more efficiently "4retty (//5#.
As the inability of the 1reen =evolution to imrove roduction and farm incomes for the
very oor became aarent, growing enthusiasm for established, traditional agricultural
ractices generated a renewed quest in the develoing world for affordable, roductive,and ecologically sound technologies that could enhance small farm roductivity while
conserving resources. 7n the Andean altilano, develoment workers and farmers have
reconstructed a +$year$old indigenous farming system at an altitude of almost -m.
2hese indigenous farmers were able to roduce food in the face of floods, droughts, andsevere frosts by growing cros such as otatoes, quinoa, oca, and amaranthus in raised
fields or waru$warus, which consisted of latforms of soil surrounded by ditches filled
with water "Browder (/
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7n a recent study of *< agroecologically based ro>ects and9or initiatives throughout the
develoing world, 4retty and !ine "*# documented clear increases in food roduction
over some */ million hectares, with nearly / million households benefiting fromincreased food diversity and security. 4romoted sustainable agriculture ractices led to
5$(D increases in er hectare food roduction "about (.0( Mg er year er
household# in rain$fed areas tyical of small farmers living in marginal environments)that is an area of about +.5< million hectares, cultivated by about -.-* million farmers.
3uch yield enhancements are a true breakthrough for achieving food security among
farmers isolated from mainstream agricultural institutions.
Approaces to preserve te biodiversity of traditional agroecosystems
As many rural societies undergo the conversion from a subsistence economy to a cash
agricultural economy, the loss of biodiversity in their ecosystems is mounting at analarming rate. Because many easants are directly linked to the market economy,
e%ternal economic forces are increasingly influencing roduction by favoring genetically
uniform cros and mechanied and9or agrochemical ractices. Many landraces and wild
lant relatives are being abandoned, which may cause them to become relic oulationsor even e%tinct. 7n some areas, land scarcity "mostly a result of uneven land distribution#
has forced changes in land use and agricultural ractices, which in turn have caused thedisaearance of habitats that formerly maintained useful noncro vegetation, including
wild rogenitors and weedy forms of cros "Altieri et al. (/
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4revious recommendations for in situconservation of cro germlasm emhasied the
develoment of a system of village$level landrace custodians "a farmer curator system#
whose urose would be to continue growing a limited samle of endangered landracesnative to the region "Mooney (/
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must be made in olicies, institutions and research and develoment agendas to make
sure that 17A!3 are reserved and revitalied. 2he evidence shows that sustainable
agricultural systems can be both economically, environmentally and socially viable, andcontribute ositively to local livelihoods "Uhoff and Altieri (///#. But without
aroriate olicy suort, they are likely to remain localied in e%tent. 2herefore, a
ma>or challenge for the future entails romoting institutional and olicy changes torealie the otential of 17A!3. ecessary changes include'
7ncreasing ublic investments in agroecological L articiatory methods.
Changes in olicies to sto subsidies of conventional technologies and torovide suort for agroecological aroaches.
7mrovement of infrastructure for oor and marginal areas.
Aroriate equitable market oortunities including fair market accessand market information to small farmers.
3ecurity of tenure.
Changes in attitudes and hilosohy among decision$makers, scientists,and others to acknowledge and romote alternatives.
3trategies of institutions encouraging equitable artnershis with local1Es and farmers' relace to$down transfer of technology model witharticiatory technology develoment and farmer$centered research and
e%tension.
utloo and prospects
2here is no question that thousands of small farmers that have inherited or develoed
17A!3 throughout the develoing world can roduce much of the needed food while
conserving biodiversity and material resources "Uhoff and Altieri (///) 4retty and !ine*#. 2he evidence is conclusive' aroaches and technologies searheaded by farmers
around the world are already making a sufficient contribution to food security at the
household, national, and regional levels. A variety of agroecological and articiatoryaroaches suorting farmers@ efforts in many countries show very ositive outcomes
even under adverse conditions. 4otentials include' raising cereal yields from 5 to *
ercent, increasing stability of roduction through diversification, imroving diets andincome, contributing to national food security and even to e%orts and conservation of the
natural resource base and agrobiodiversity "4retty (//5) Uhoff and Altieri (///#.
6hether the otential of 17A!3 is reserved or re$vitalied so as to sread localagroecological innovations to other communities deends on several factors and actions.
&irst, roosed strategies have to deliberately target the oor, and not only aim at
increasing roduction and conserving natural resources, but also create emloyment, and
rovide access to local inuts and outut markets. ew strategies must focus on thefacilitation of farmers learning to become e%erts on agroecology, and at caturing the
oortunities in their diverse environments "Uhoff **#.
3econd, researchers and rural develoment ractitioners will need to translate general
ecological rinciles and natural resource management concets into ractical advicedirectly relevant to the needs and circumstances of small$holders. 2he new ro$oor
technological agenda must incororate agroecological ersectives. A focus on resource
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conserving technologies that uses labor efficiently, and on diversified farming systems
based on natural ecosystem rocesses will be essential. 2his imlies a clear
understanding of the relationshi between biodiversity and agroecosystem function andidentifying management ractices and designs that will enhance the right kind of
biodiversity which in turn will contribute to the maintenance and roductivity of
agroecosystems.
2echnological solutions will be location$secific and information$intensive rather than
caital$intensive. 2he many e%isting e%amles of traditional and 1E$led methods ofnatural resource management rovide oortunities to e%lore the otential of combining
local farmer knowledge and skill with those of e%ternal agents in order to develo and9or
adat aroriate farming techniques.
Any serious attemt at develoing sustainable agricultural technologies must bring to
bear local knowledge and skills on the research rocess "=ichards (//5) 2oledo *#.
4articular emhasis must be given to involving farmers directly in the formulation of the
research agenda and on their active articiation in the rocess of technologicalinnovation and dissemination. 2he focus should be in strengthening local research and
roblem$solving caacities. Erganiing local eole around natural resourcemanagement ro>ects that make effective use of traditional skills and knowledge rovides
a launching ad for additional learning and organiing, thus imroving rosects for
community emowerment and self$reliant develoment.
2hird, ma>or changes must be made in olicies, institutions, and research. 7n fact, 4retty
and !ine "*(# concluded from their worldwide survey of sustainable agriculture
initiatives that if sustainable agriculture is to sread to larger numbers of farmers andcommunities, then future attention needs to be focused on'
(. Gnsuring the olicy environment is enabling rather than disabling)
*. 7nvesting in infrastructure for markets, transort and communications)+. Gnsuring the suort of government agencies, in articular, for local sustainable
agricultural initiatives)
-. :eveloing social caital within rural communities.
2here is also a need to increase rural incomes through interventions other than enhancing
yields, such as comlementary marketing and rocessing activities. 2herefore, equitable
market oortunities should also be develoed, emhasiing fair trade and othermechanisms that link farmers and consumers more directly. 2he ultimate challenge is to
increase investment and research in agroecology and scale u ro>ects that have already
roven successful to thousands of other farmers. 2his will generate a meaningful imacton the income, food security, and environmental well$being of the world@s oulation,
esecially for the millions of oor farmers yet untouched by modern agricultural
technology.
&onclusions
A key conclusion that emerges from the relevant anthroological and ecological literature
is that, when not disruted by economic or olitical forces, indigenous modes of food
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roduction "17A!3# generally reserve rather than destroy biodiversity and natural
resources. 7n fact, in any articular region, caitalist develoment through the romotion
of large$scale, energy$intensive, commercial agricultures is bound to delete naturalresources more than any of the e%isting traditional systems.
:eveloment goals of increasing roduction usually result in ecological deterioration.&or e%amle, in 3enegal, *5, hectares ut under irrigation for rice are now degraded,
as ine%erienced eole quickly erected oorly built irrigation structures in order to
satisfy a government requirement for establishing tenure "Ba and Crousse (/
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4lant resources are directly deendent on management by human grous) thus, both
secies and genetic diversity have evolved in art under the influence of farmingractices shaed by articular cultures and the forms of sohisticated knowledge they
reresent "abhan (/acent vegetation communities "2oledo
(/
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*(. :enevan, 6.M. (//5. 4rehistoric agricultural methods for sustainability.
Ad*anced )lant )athology, (('*($-+.
**. :enevan, 6.M., 2reace, J.M., Alcorn, J.B., 4adoch, C., :enslow, J., and 4aitan,3.2. (/tes, C., !averkort, B. and 6aters$Bayer, A. (//*.9arming for the future
8ondon' MacMillan+0. =ichards, 4. (/
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Table + &lassification of -arming SystemsTree &rops Tillage #it or #itout
livestoc
Alternating tillage #it
grass, bus or forest
Grassland or Gra'ing
of land consistently in
.indigenous/ or man0
made pasture
Temperat
e
Tropical Temperat
e
Tropical Temperat
e
Tropical Temperat
e
Tropical
Fery
e%tensive
Cork
collectionfrom
Maquis insouthern&rance
Collection
from wildtrees, e.g.
sheabutter
3hifting
cultivationin egev
:esert,7srael
3hifting
cultivationin Nambia
=eindeer
herding in8aland.
omadicastoralisminAfghanistan
Camel$
herding inArabia
and3omalia
G%tensiveG%amles
3elf$sown orlanted blue
berries in
the northeastof the U3A
3elf$sownoil alms
in 6est
Africa
Cerealgrowing in
7nterior
4lains of .America,
amas of
3. America,in
unirrigatedareas, e.g.
3yria
Unirrigatedcereals in
central
3udan
3hiftingcultivation
in the more
arid artsof Africa
6ool$growing in
Australia.
!ill shee inthe U.H."3hee in
7celand#.Cattle
ranching inthe U3A.
omadiccattle$
herding in
Gast and6estAfrica.
8lamas in3outh
America
3emi$intensiveG%amles
Cider aleorchards inthe U.H.
3omevineyards in&rance
Cocoa in6estAfrica.
Coffee inBrail
:ry cerealfarming in7srael or
2e%as, U3A
Continuouscroing incongested
areas ofAfrica.=ice in3.G. Asia
Cotton ortobacco withlivestock in
thesoutheast ofthe U3A.6heat with
leys andshee in
Australia
3hiftingcultivationin much
of troicalAfrica
Ulandsheecountry in
orth7sland, ewNealand
Cattle andbuffaloesin mi%ed
farmingin 7ndiaandAfrica
7ntensive
G%amles
Citrus in
California or7srael
=ubber in
3.G. Asia.2ea in7ndia andCeylon
Corn Belt of
the U3A.Continuous
barleygrowing in
the U.H.
=ice and
vegetablegrowing insouthChina.
3ugar$canelantationsthroughouttroics
7rrigated
rice andgrass beeffarms inAustralia.
Much of theeast andsouth of theU.H., the
etherlands,northern
&rance,:enmark,
southern3weden
G%eriment
stationsandscatteredsettlement
schemes
4arts of the
etherlands,ewNealand andGngland
:airying
in Henyaand=hodesiahighlands
2yical&ood
Chains
A A A,B A A,B,C,: A "C# C ":# C
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Table 7 Te 8avilou &enters of rigin of &rop 2lants and AgricultureI Te &inese &enter:in which he recognies (+< distinct secies of which robably the earlier and most
imortant were cereals, buckwheats and legumes.
II Te Indian &enter (including te entire subcontinent):based originally on rice, millets and legumes,
with a total of ((0 secies.
IIa Te Indo0%alayan &enter (including Indonesia, 2ilippines, etc):with root cros "Dioscoreas., %acca,etc.# reonderant, also with fruit cros, sugarcane, sices, etc., some 55 secies.
III Te Inner Asiatic &enter (Tad9iistan, 'beistan, etc):with wheats, rye and many herbaceous
legumes, as well as seed$sown root cros and fruits, some -* secies.
I8 Asia %inor (including Transcaucasia, Iran and Turmenistan):with more wheats, rye, oats, seed
and forage legumes, fruits, etc., some
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Table ; Agroclimatic crop 'ones of te central Andes (!rus +or
Cros9Animals
Agricultural
2echnology
8and 2enure &ocus of
4roduction4asture above
+,
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Table > African Traditional -ood -arming Systems and Treats to Sustainability
(after !enne +
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Agroforestry.
&amily and individual
ownershi, sharecroing,
and renting.
Comound or homestead farming 4ermanent system of
cultivation.
3oil fertility maintainedthrough alication of
household refuse, night soil,
and manure.
Mi%ed croing.
Erientation is subsistence.
&amily ownershi.
:ensely settled areas in the
different ecological ones.
3ometimes combined withbush fallow systems.
2errace farming 7ntensive cultivation as
above.
&amily or individual
ownershi.
3ecial terraces constructed
to check erosion and control
water.
Mi%ed croing.
Uland or hilly areas in
different ecological ones.
&lood land cultivation 7ntensive seasonal
cultivation.
Cultivation of different crosaccording to whether flood is
rising or reducing.
Erientation is subsistence
and commercial.
:raw$down areas of ma>or
rivers, streams, and lakes.
Falley bottom during the dryseason.
2ranshumance astoralism omadic graing of livestock
determined by seasonal
rainfall.
Arid regions.
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Table ? Some examples of soil, space, #ater and vegetation management systems
used by traditional agriculturalists trougout te #orld (after @lee +
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deosits, and use of aquatic
weeds and muck, alleycroing with legumes,
lowed leaves, branching
and other debris, burning
vegetation, etc.&looding or e%cess water 7ntegrate agriculture with
water suly.=aised field agriculture"chinamas, tablones#,
ditched fields, diking, etc.
G%cess water Channel9direct available
water.
Control floodwater with
canals and check dams.
3unken fields dug down to
groundwater level. 3lashirrigation. Canal irrigation
fed from onded
groundwater, wells, lakes,
and reservoirs.Unreliable rainfall Best use of available
moisture.
Use of drought$tolerant cro
secies and varieties,
mulching, weather indicators,
mi%ed croing using end of
rainy season, cros with short
growing eriods.
2emerature or radiatione%tremes
Ameliorate microclimate. 3hade reduction orenhancement) lant
sacings) thinnings) shade$
tolerant cros) increasedlant densities) mulching)
wind management withhedges, fences, tree rows)weeding) shallow lowing)
minimum tillage)
intercroing) agroforestry)
alley$croing, etc.
4est incidence
"invertebrates, vertebrates#
4rotect cros, minimie est
oulations.
Ever lanting, allowing est
damage, cro watching,hedging or fencing, use of
resistant varieties, mi%ed
croing, enhancement of
natural enemies, hunting,icking, use of oisons,
reellants, lanting in times
of low est otential.