For more than two decades agroforestry has been heralded and actively promoted as a practical and beneficial land-use system for smallholders in developing countries. This promise led to the establishment of the International Centre for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF) in 1978 and its support by the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) since 1991. Functioning initially as an information council during the 1980s in 1991 ICRAF shifted its emphasis towards strategic research to strengthen the scientific basis for advocating agroforestry. This significant investment in process-oriented research greatly enhanced understanding of the opportunities and limitations of agroforestry and led to more critical assessments of its potential use (Sanchez 1995 1999). As a result agroforestry progressed from being an indigenous practice of great potential and romantic appeal to becoming a science-based system for managing natural resources.
Publication year
2002
Authors
Keywords
Agroforestry, Impact assessment, Research and development, Technology
