agroforestry
agroforestry A system of mixed arable farming and forestry that has been practised for millenniums in many parts of the tropics (e.g. in home gardens in Java), especially in rain-forest environments. Tree crops are interspersed with food-crop patches on a continuous basis, sometimes as hedges (so-called ‘alley-cropping’). The system ensures a continuous food supply, some continuous economic return, and the avoidance of soil degradation by exposure to tropical sunlight and rainfall during prolonged clearance; and it is suitable for small-scale family farmers. The trees act as ‘nutrient pumps’ and bring plant mineral nutrients from the depths up to the surface soil layers that are occupied by the roots of the crop plants.
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agroforestry
