1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 The concepts of agroforestry and extension

Agroforestry

Agroforestry, social forestry, community forestry, village forestry and farm forestry are all terms used to describe tree growing that is undertaken mainly outside gazetted forest areas. These terms are often used to describe very similar activities, but in theory they have slightly different meanings.

Agroforestry is the term most often used in the extension context in Kenya. Agroforestry is a land-use system in which trees or shrubs are grown in association with agricultural crops, pastures or livestock. This integration of trees and shrubs in the land-use system can be either a spatial arrangement, e.g. trees growing in a field at the same time as the crop, or in a time sequence, e.g. shrubs grown on a fallow for restoration of soil fertility.

Figure 1.1 Agroforestry provides opportunities for people to meet local needs for both food crops and forest products

Sometimes the phrase woody perennials is used instead of trees and shrubs. Of course, woody perennials include all trees and shrubs with a lifespan of more than a year, but they also cover bamboos and palms.

The trees in an agroforestry system are not necessarily planted. Instead natural regeneration of trees may be protected, or mature trees may be deliberately left in the fields or pastures. Hence agroforestry is a much wider concept than tree planting.

Agroforestry systems often involve management of trees and shrubs and utilization of their products. The trees and shrubs will have an impact on the other components in the land-use system. Hence, agroforestry systems are normally characterized by ecological and economic interactions between woody perennials and crops or livestock.

Woody perennials are sometimes referred to as multipurpose trees and shrubs or MPTS. Almost all trees and shrubs can be said to be MPTS, but the concept was introduced to distinguish the multiple role often played by trees and shrubs in an agroforestry system from the single purpose of wood production in pure forest plantations. Tree growing in such forest areas normally aims at meeting demands for wood for industrial purposes, and is often called industrial forestry.

Social forestry is a slightly wider concept as it includes tree growing for ornamental purposes in urban areas and in avenues. Farm forestry can be regarded as almost synonymous to agroforestry, but it may also include large-scale forest production on private farms, an activity that would fall outside the definition of agroforestry. Finally, the term community forestry has been used to stress the involvement of people in tree-growing efforts, although people are, of course, much involved in all agroforestry activity. In many countries the concept of community forestry has now been replaced by those of farm forestry or agroforestry. This change is the result of the de-emphasis of communal efforts which have often proven less fruitful than was predicted some years ago. What has been said here about community forestry largely applies to village forestry as well.

Figure 1.2 Carefully chosen and nurtured trees add beauty to a homestead

In this book the term agroforestry will be used in its widest sense with no attempt being made to distinguish it from any of the other concepts discussed above. Instead of the cumbersome "woody perennials" or "multipurpose trees and shrubs" we will simply use "trees and shrubs" or just "trees". Whenever we talk of trees or trees and shrubs these terms should be understood as equivalent to woody perennials.

Extension is a term that has long been used to describe a non-formal educational system aimed at improving the livelihood of farmers and their communities. Sometimes extension efforts aimed at increasing the growing of trees have involved provision of considerable physical or financial resources such as free tree seedlings, cash payments in relation to the number of surviving trees, etc. Although such incentives may be part of an agroforestry extension system, the core activities in extension are education and training.

Figure 1.3 A good extensionist learns from the local farmers

Sim and Hilmi (1987) used the term forestry extension to cover any situation in which local people are directly and willingly involved in forestry activities and from which they will derive some recognizable benefit within a reasonable period of time. These authors felt that too often in the past extension has been regarded as a means of passing down to fanners techniques which, it was believed, would be beneficial to them without taking into account sufficiently the particular social or environmental conditions of the area. In particular, too often, the indigenous skills, social structure and detailed local knowledge of the people have been ignored in trying to transfer new skills or techniques to them.

Fortunately, extension is now being regarded as a much wider task of integrating indigenous and new skills and techniques, derived from study or research, into an overall framework of discussion and co-operation between the people and the extension organisation.

It is in this wider sense that the term extension is used in this book.