Many parts of the Andes – a 7000-km mountain range stretching from Chile to Colombia – are suffering from serious degradation. In Peru, where the World Agroforestry Centre has its Latin American headquarters, the Andes is highly susceptible to extreme climatic events, including drought, hail, frost and flooding. This frequently has a devastating effect on rural populations, and especially subsistence farmers, over 60% of whom live below the poverty line. Climate change, it is feared, will simply make matters worse.

But could agroforestry practices help smallholder farmers in the Andes buffer themselves against climate change and restore degraded landscapes? Finding the answer to this question is one of the main aims of a research project being carried out by Sarah- Lan Mathez-Stiefel, an ethnobiologist who shares her time between the World Agroforestry Centre and the Centre for Development and Environment at the University of Bern, Switzerland.

In 2014, Sarah-Lan set up a partnership with the new ‘Andean Forests’ regional programme financed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. This involves two nongovernmental organizations – one Swiss, one local – working with local communities in the Andes to help them become more resilient to climate change. “We are working in parallel and my research results and recommendations will help to guide the development activities undertaken by the programme,” says Sarah- Lan.

The research involves an in-depth qualitative study of the existing agroforestry practices of three indigenous communities in a microwatershed in Apurimac Department. “Between them, these three communities cover a great range of altitude, from 2000 metres up to 3800 metres above sea level, and this means that there is a diversity of ecological habitats, land use and livelihoods systems, and therefore farming practices,” says Sarah-Lan.

Families living at the highest altitude get most of their income from cattle; those lower down rely less on livestock and depend more on fruit trees and annual crops. In 2015, Sarah-Lan began collecting data on all the agroforestry practices in the watershed – some traditional, some involving the use of exotic species – and assessing the benefits of each. Using the Agroecological Knowledge Toolkit, she explored local knowledge about different species and practices, and how they could contribute to soil and water conservation and help families to survive extreme climate change events.

Sarah-Lan is also looking at gender perceptions about the benefits of different agroforestry practices and species, and how these are integrated into local land use and livelihood systems. “The whole process is very participatory,” she explains. “After I have analysed the data, I will return to the communities, present my findings, and we will develop recommendations for agroforestry initiatives.”

The ultimate aim of the project is to establish which agroforestry practices provide the greatest benefits in the Andes. These could then be promoted elsewhere in Peru and in other Andean countries. Sarah-Lan will assess existing scientific studies to see if they support her conclusions, and identify gaps in research.

“Until now, we have focused mainly on the Amazon in our Latin American programme,” says Jonathan Cornelius, the Centre’s Regional Coordinator. “But with agroforestry thriving in many parts the Peruvian Andes, we want to explore how this can be optimized as a tool for sustainable land management and climatechange adaptation.” Jonathan hopes this will be the first of many projects carried out by the World Agroforestry Centre in the Andes

Wander around the countryside in northwest Vietnam and you will be struck by the evidence of serious erosion, from the bare hilltops to the hillsides scarred with gullies. One of the main culprits is monocropping with maize, rice and cassava. Poor farmers cultivate the annual crops on sloping land for two reasons. First, they require little in the way of investment. Second, they bring annual returns. However, monocropping leads to loss of fertility, which in turn leads to reduced productivity and lower incomes.

The Agroforestry for Livelihoods of Smallholder Farmers in Northwest Vietnam (AFLI) project, which is funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), is helping to address the problem by promoting agroforestry. This is providing farmers with a diverse source of income, and at the same time rehabilitating degraded land.

Farmers were initially reluctant to shift from monocropping to agroforestry, largely because they feared that their incomes would decline while they waited for their trees to mature. However, just two years after trial plots had been established, farmers realized that their incomes were increasing and their land was in better health.

The introduction of trees and the creation of grass strips significantly reduced soil erosion. For example, farmers in Con Noi commune dramatically reduced soil erosion after adopting a complex agroforestry system with teak, plum, coffee, maize and fodder grass. Just a short distance away, at a control site, erosion was much higher. Soil erosion was measured at 9 tonnes per hectare per year under a different agroforestry system in Tuan Giao commune. This combined acacia, longan, coffee, soy bean, peanut and fodder grass. This compares with some 80 tonnes per hectare per year on land devoted to the monocropping of maize.

Incomes have risen too. “When I used to plant maize and rice, I earned about VND 10 million [US$465] per hectare per year,” said one farmer. “Next year I expect to earn up to VND 50 million [US$2315] per hectare.” By then, the indigenous son tra trees which he has planted will be producing significant quantities of fruit.

The agroforestry systems established by the AFLI project are still in their infancy in northwest Vietnam, so researchers have yet to measure their full impact. Nevertheless, the project has convinced many farming communities of the importance of including trees in their cropping systems.

Tea and Aquilaria system in Ha Tinh

Vietnam needs a treedomestication strategy

In 2004, the World Agroforestry Centre published a brief titled, Call for a Tree Domestication Strategy in Vietnam. Co-authored by Delia Catacutan, who manages the World Agroforestry Centre’s programme in Vietnam, the policy brief argues that a national domestication strategy could help to improve tree quality and the availability of high quality seeds and seedlings.

Over the past 25 years, considerable effort has been put into restoring degraded forests in Vietnam. However, the quality of the forests is often poor and the supply of high quality seeds and seedling is limited. There are various policies, ordinances, decrees and regulations affecting domestication, but there is a complete lack of coordination and a tendency to favour exotic species such as eucalyptus over indigenous species.

The policy brief recommends a range of actions, the first of which is to establish a national strategy for tree domestication. This would prioritize the domestication of indigenous species. The policy brief also suggests that field-based seed banks should be established in each of the country’s agroecological zones. The national strategy would guide efforts to conserve priority species. The authors of the policy brief argue that the strategy would need to establish criteria for selecting priority species, reflecting their economic importance and suitability for domestication on farms and plantations.

Reference
Catacutan DC, Phi HH, Vu TP, Dam VB, Muchugi A, Hoang TL. 2014. Call for a tree domestication strategy in Vietnam. Hanoi: World Agroforestry Centre Vietnam

Between 2000 and 2013, global production of natural rubber, which is made from the latex produced by Hevea brasiliensis, almost doubled from just under 7 million tonnes to over 12 million tonnes per year, stimulated by the ever-increasing demand for tyres, condoms and other products which are made with a mix of natural and synthetic rubber. Approximately 80% of natural rubber comes from five Asian countries.

“Rubber is a very valuable smallholder crop, and a pathway out of poverty for many rural communities,” says Rhett Harrison, a World Agroforestry Centre ecologist based in China. “However, when it’s grown as a monoculture, it can do a lot of damage to soils and water. We need to encourage systems of rubber agroforestry which have less impact on the environment and increase the environmental services they provide.”

This is the aim of the 3-year Green Rubber Project, which is managed by the Centre and funded by GIZ. As demand for rubber has increased, the crop has spread beyond peninsular Malaysia into the Upper Mekong, and there are now significant areas under rubber in Cambodia, China, Laos, northern Thailand and Vietnam. Rubber has begun to replace traditional farming systems, especially swidden agriculture, and large areas of natural forest in an area which is rich in biodiversity hotspots.

The first year of the project was devoted to gathering background information. Teams of researchers conducted socioeconomic household surveys at two sites in Xishuangbanna in China; similar surveys will be carried out in 2015 in Laos and Thailand. The surveys overlap with work being carried out in the Upper Mekong Sentinel Landscape and include an extra module on rubber production, to provide an insight into the impact on local economies.

Researchers have begun collecting data on gender issues, greenhouse gas emissions in rubber plantations, and fungal diversity and soil health. There is also a GIS component whose aim is to improve the mapping of rubber by identifying the age of plantations. Older plantations tend to be richer in biodiversity, and provide a greater range of ecosystem services, than young plantations.

From monoculture to agroforestry

These and other studies are helping Rhett and his colleagues establish a comprehensive database about the impact of rubber plantations – both positive and negative – on local communities and the environment in the Upper Mekong. “Our next step is to start exploring how agroforestry can create a more environmentally sustainable form of rubber production,” says Rhett.

Rubber agroforestry is already practised in parts of southern Thailand, where farmers plant a range of timber and fruit trees alongside their rubber. This provides them with a more diverse source of income, which is particularly important as rubber prices frequently fluctuate. Shortly before the Green Rubber Project began, rubber was fetching over US$7 per kilo on the world market. Now it is back to just over US$1 per kilo, much closer to its long-term average. This works in favour of the project, as farmers are unlikely to consider alternatives to rubber monoculture when prices are very high.

“We would like to introduce something similar to the rubber agroforestry practices in southern Thailand in the Upper Mekong,” says Rhett. “However, we want to do it more scientifically, and test a range of different agroforestry systems that will help to address environmental problems without threatening the commercial viability of rubber as a crop.” This could involve planting timber trees in and among the rubber, and encouraging farmers to leave corridors as “regenerating jungle” between rows of rubber.

Agroforestry can create a more environmentally sustainable form of rubber production

In October 2014, a 4-day workshop on ‘Sustainability of Natural Rubber in the 21st Century’ was held in Vientiane, Laos. Hosted by the National University of Laos and the Laos Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, and co-organized by the Green Rubber Project, the event attracted some 90 participants. The workshop created an exchange platform to link institutes and organizations working on rubber. It also increased the visibility of current research and identified options for future collaboration. The platform will meet again in 2016. “One of our long-term aims involves launching a multi-site experiment which will evaluate the benefits of rubber agroforestry in the region,” says Rhett.

Drylands cover 43% of Africa’s land surface and are home to around 325 million people. Relatively neglected by governments and starved of private sector investment, many of these arid and semi-arid areas suffer from high levels of poverty and malnutrition. Tackling these issues is the main preoccupation of a 5-year project funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and managed by the World Agroforestry Centre.

The DRYDEV programme – the acronym comes from “Drylands Development Programme – A Farmer-led Programme to Enhance Water Management, Food Security and Rural Economic Development in the Drylands of Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Ethiopia and Kenya” – is focusing on areas with high population densities, high levels of poverty and a high dependency on food aid in the target countries.

“The project is promoting technologies that will improve food productivity, stimulate economic development and help farming families become self-sufficient in food and have a surplus to sell in local markets,” says Maimbo Malesu, a water expert at the World Agroforestry Centre. During 2014, the DRYDEV inception year, project teams engaged with smallholder farmers, conducted baseline studies, established partnerships between research and development agencies, and launched a range of “quick-win” activities. “If you look at the quick-win activities in Tigray, Ethiopia, you get a good idea of what we’re trying to achieve,” says Malesu. Under the direction of a team managed by World Vision, the lead country partner for Ethiopia and Kenya, DRYDEV helped local communities undertake a range of projects to improve pasture, conserve water and rehabilitate degraded land.

During the coming years, DRYDEV will scale up successful interventions using an options-bycontext approach (described more fully on pages 24-25 of this annual report). This will involve dividing the programme area in each country into similar sub-catchments; identifying promising options for each sub-catchment; and working with farmers and households to ensure that the right options are taken for each particular site.

“Farmers have been encouraging natural regeneration of trees in their fields using technologies like zai pits and rainwater harvesting for thousands of years, so we are not introducing new technologies,” says Malesu. “Rather, we’re making sure that the right technologies are used in the right places.”

During the inception year, DRYDEV reached some 38,000 farmers. For example, 16,922 farmers benefited from improved food and water security projects and 15,878 farmers were introduced to activities related to the commercialization of the rural economy. Eventually, 70,000 households will benefit from projects introduced by DRYDEV.

In 2014, the World Agroforestry Centre was appointed lead partner in a project to safeguard biodiversity and improve the social and economic well-being of populations living on either side of the Somalia/Kenya border. This is one of three cross-border regions that are the focus of the Biodiversity Management Programme in the Horn Africa, which is funded by the European Union and implemented through the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), whose headquarters are in Djibouti.

“IGAD had noticed that member governments were paying little or no attention to biodiversity in border areas,” says Maimbo Malesu of the World Agroforestry Centre. “The programme will help to sensitise governments to the importance of biodiversity conservation and encourage them to adhere to international conservation conventions, such as the 2011–2030 Aichi Biodiversity Targets.”

The programme focuses on the Boma– Gambella landscape shared by Sudan and Ethiopia; the Lower Awash–Lake Abbe landscape shared by Ethiopia and Djibouti; and the Tana–Kipini–Laga–Badana landscape and seascape, which lies between northeast Kenya and southeast Somalia. The lens organizations for the first two regions are the Horn of Africa Regional Centre (HOREC) and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) respectively.

The Tana–Kipini–Laga–Badana area contains a great diversity of ecosystems, from coral reefs and mangrove swamps to coastal scrub and semi-desert. It is home to several threatened species, including the hirola antelope, wild dog, lion and leatherback and hawksbill turtles. It also faces many challenges. Massive infrastructure development is planned in the south. In the north, in Somalia, large areas of forest have already been cleared for charcoal manufacture.

“During the first year of the project, work focused on gathering baseline data and setting up stakeholder groups,” explains Malesu. “We also established a partnership with National Museums of Kenya, which will provide guidance on mainstreaming biodiversity aspects into the spatial plan under development by the Lamu County government through its Land Use Planning Unit.”

During 2015, Malesu and his colleagues will work closely with the planning unit to build technical capacity and provide training on spatial planning, including the use of GIS and remote sensing. There will be a strong emphasis on participatory planning, involving farmers, herders and villagers living in the border region. Key issues addressed by the programme will include wildlife conservation, improved water management, and the introduction of agroforestry and other activities which will lead to better wildlife management and improved livelihoods.

“Eventually, we would like to establish a similar relationship with a planning unit on the Somali side, but because of the insecurity that hasn’t been possible,” says Malesu. “We are now in a wait-and-see situation, but we hope to begin work in Somalia before long.”

Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is one of the oldest protected areas in Africa. It is also one of the most threatened. Rich in biodiversity and almost the last refuge of the mountain gorilla, parts of the park are controlled by rebel groups and much of the rest is threatened by poaching, illegal mining and charcoal production.

The Forests and Climate Change in the Congo project, funded by the European Union and managed by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), is currently working with a range of national and international partners to strengthen forestry research in the country and help protect Virunga National Park. While CIFOR is active within the park, the World Agroforestry Centre is focusing on the area immediately outside.

“Our main task is to support WWF, which has been involved in establishing woodlots using fast-growing trees, mostly eucalyptus species, around the periphery of the national park since 1987,” says Emilie Smith Dumont. Now that the World Agroforestry Centre is involved, the focus will be on creating a more diverse landscape using a variety of native and exotic trees. “The idea is to take pressure off the park by encouraging farmers outside to plant a range of species that will provide them with timber, fruit and fuelwood, and help restore degraded land,” says Emilie.

Working with local researchers and farmers, Emilie began her participatory research programme by studying the drivers of landuse change, local knowledge about trees, and the markets for timber and charcoal. The research revealed that there had been a significant reduction of arable land outside the park, caused in part by the expansion of livestock grazing. Eucalyptus plantations had also replaced cash and food crops, as timber can yield rapid returns and, unlike annual crops, is less likely to be looted by armed groups. The studies also noted that there was little integration of trees and livestock into farming systems and a growing problem of soil erosion.

Searching for the best options

Emilie had already worked with WWF in Kivu District during the Lake Tanganyika Basin Project. This sought to reduce sedimentation and improve local livelihoods by tackling erosion and improving land-use practices around the lake. Some 18 months after the project ended, in June 2014, Emilie made a return journey to this remote and mountainous region. “I was very happy to find that nine of the nurseries we had established were still fully operational without any external support,” says Emilie, “and local communities were

successfully using techniques – such as how to break seed dormancy – that the project had introduced.” The communities running the nurseries were now focusing exclusively on native species that they themselves had identified as being useful.

By introducing agroforestry and working closely with local herders, they had significantly reduced the incidence of bushfires, which used to cause major problems for tree survival in the past. Tree planting and the strategic use of gabions, wire cages filled with rocks, had reduced erosion, and assisted natural regeneration had led to the recovery of riverine forests. This provided tangible evidence of the project’s sustainability and the value of the participatory research approach adopted by Emilie.

“The conventional approach with many agroforestry projects is to introduce and promote one or two exotic species,” says Emilie. “Getting farmers and rural communities to think about using a diverse range of native species can be quite a challenge, but I think we succeeded in doing that with the Lake Tanganyika project, and that’s now happening around Virunga.”

To establish what sort of agroforestry practices would work best on the land outside Virunga National Park, Emilie organized workshops in Goma and Butembo, bringing together scientists, farmers’ leaders and rural advisory agents. The aim was to identify agroforestry options and tree species which would work in different biophysical and social contexts. In the Goma workshop, participants identified 44 native species; in Butembo, they identified 57. “I think the workshops helped to change people’s perceptions, and encouraged them to think in a creative way about the benefits of agroforestry,” reflects Emilie.

“This really opened up our perspectives on tree planting,” said Hicham Daoudi, WWF’s local project manager, after the workshop. “We need to adapt our approach to include agroforestry options, but we also need to mobilize resources to focus more on agroforestry in the future.” Joseph Kanana, a technical agent for a local farmers’ association, was similarly impressed: “I was not aware there were so many important native species we could promote.”

Following the workshops, Emilie and her colleagues began to analyse the various factors that will influence the choice of agroforestry practices. “The next phase of the research involves integrating local knowledge with scientific knowledge and designing customised training materials for tree selection and management that will support the best-fit agroforestry practices around the national park,” says Emilie.

The 1990s were grim years for Nigeria’s rubber producers. World rubber prices fell dramatically and large oil discoveries were made in the rubber belt in southern Nigeria, attracting labour away from farms. Little wonder, then, that so many smallholders abandoned their rubber plantations and that Nigeria’s production fell by around 50%.

However, this is a story that could have a happy ending. Rubber agroforestry – blending high-yielding, fast-maturing rubber trees with other crops – is proving very attractive to smallscale farmers in the Delta region, thanks to a major agroforestry project. Funded by the Common Fund for Commodities, and managed by the World Agroforestry Centre and the Rubber Research Institute of Nigeria (RRIN), the 5-year project came to an end in 2014. Its achievements are described in Rekindling Hope, a booklet co-authored by Julius Atia Iseli and colleagues from the World Agroforestry Centre’s West and Central Africa Regional Office.

The project encouraged farmers to plant rubber seedlings in rows 10 metres apart. Between the rows, they cultivated fast-maturing food crops, such as cassava, plantain and maize. Many also reared small livestock like rabbits and giant snails. Along the field boundaries, they planted superior varieties of indigenous fruit trees with high market demand, such as bush mango (Irvingia gabonensis) and African plum (Dacryodes edulis). This system enabled farmers to earn an income while they waited for their rubber trees to mature. Even when the trees started producing latex, after approximately six years, farmers could still grow annual crops and rear livestock on about 40% of the land surface.

In Rekindling Hope farmers who benefited from the project give their testimony. “After every three weeks, I sell at least four dozen plantains,” explains Adewale Onabekun, who intercrops his rubber with plantain and cassava. “Thanks to the money from intercropping, I was able to take care of my children’s education with ease.” Gabriel Ogwu now raises rabbits on his farm. These provide him with food for his family, and he is also able to sell the surplus to other farmers.

Training was a key component of the project. Many farmers were taught grafting techniques, which allow the identical reproduction of plants with desirable traits from superior mother trees. They also received training in nursery management. Some have become nursery owners, while others are much in demand for their grafting skills.

One of the most ambitious training programmes involved a sponsored exchange visit to India, which enabled farmers from Edo State to learn about methods of adding value to their latex. When they returned to Nigeria, they established a cooperative and raised enough money to buy an Indian machine which converts latex into the rubber sheets.

One of the most encouraging aspects of the project, according to Zac Tchoundjeu, the World Agroforestry Centre’s West and Central Africa regional coordinator, is that the methods and technologies promoted among rubber farmers are now spreading throughout the countryside. “We are happy to see that the project successes have attracted farmers from beyond the project sites,” says Zac. He and his colleagues believe that rubber agroforestry has the potential to bring lasting benefits to Nigeria’s Delta region by improving farmers’ incomes and stemming the flow of young people into the cities.