A.K.M. Saiful Islam ([email protected]) and Mohammed Mohiuddin ([email protected])
Agroforestry is traditionally practiced in the homesteads, marginal lands, croplands, uplands and hilly areas of Chittagong, Bangladesh. Common components of the systems include trees, vegetables, pulses or beans, cereals, non-timber forest products (NTFPs), spices, livestock, poultry and fisheries.
A systematic and intensive survey was conducted from March to August 2003 in the semi-urban areas of Chittagong, which lies on the southeast part of Bangladesh between 22012/North latitude and 91030/East latitude. The objective of the survey was to identify agroforestry farming practices in these areas and their impacts on semi-urban areas, particularly those adjacent to the forestlands. A total of 60 families were randomly selected from the rural villages adjacent to Chittagong City. There were 375 respondents, of which 51.75 percent were male and 48.25 percent were female. Literacy rate was 52.25 percent.
Rapid and unplanned urbanization coupled with migration and deforestation, along with the conversion of forestlands into agricultural farms, has increased the practice of agroforestry in these areas. In effect, these activities have changed the species diversity and the soil’s physical and chemical properties, including soil erosion and soil fertility.
The study revealed 57 types of trees, with tree density of 755 per ha, and 21 types of crops in the area. Among the NTFPs, bamboos (Bambusa balcooa, Bambusa tulda and Melocana baccifera) were more dominant than cane (Calamus guruba, Calamus spp.) and patipata (Schumannianthus dichotoma). The cereals, pulses, vegetables (e.g. Raphnus sativus, Solanum melongena, Pudina spp., Basella rubra, Amaranthus gangeticus, and Luffa acutangula), livestock, poultry and fisheries were considered essential components of the agroforestry farms. Fuelwood was also found to be among the benefits provided by agroforestry.
Agroforestry farming systems in the marginal lands (top), homesteads (middle), and croplands (bottom) of Bangladesh.
Soil erosion rates on homesteads practicing agroforestry were considerably lower (1.87 t/ha/yr) than marginal and hilly areas without agroforestry farming practices (3.66 t/ha/yr and 6.35 t/ha/yr, respectively). The nitrogen and organic carbon in the soil was also seen to increase to 0.10 percent and 1.95 percent, respectively, compared to the homesteads without agroforestry systems which had nitrogen and organic carbon levels of 0.0773 percent and 0.473 percent, respectively. The study also found that families earned Taka 17 000 to 19 000 per year as supplementary income from practicing agroforestry. This makes a considerable contribution towards improving their standard of living, while contributing to environmental conservation.
The study revealed diverse agroforestry farming practices in the rural villages, and the semi-urban areas of Bangladesh. Agroforestry increased the productivity of the land in a sustainable manner, ensuring increased biodiversity and reducing rural poverty and environmental degradation. The authors can be contacted at the Institute of Forestry and Environmental Sciences, University of Chittagong, Bangladesh, Tel 88 031 714914.
Despite intensified efforts in environmental consciousness in recent decades, land degradation continues to increase faster than sustainable development efforts. In response to this, an international symposium on land degradation and desertification is being organized by the Instituto de Geografia of the Universidade Federal de Uberlandia from 16 to 22 May 2005 in Uberlandia-MB-Brazil.
The symposium hopes to gather researchers, educators, students and professionals of various fields to discuss issues on the matter. It aims to present different aspects of land degradation in various geographical landscapes, focusing on the techniques of diagnosis and prevention of environmental instabilities. It will also discuss how various sciences contribute to the planning and maintenance of environmental quality.
Oral and poster presentations will be grouped into the following themes:
soil erosion and the possibilities of recovery;
rivers, fluvial systems and land degradation;
deforestation and its consequences on the soil and landscape;
sustainable development and the politics of management;
remote sensing and geographical information system (GIS) and their applications in the study of land degradation;
ecotourism and rural tourism and their implications;
urbanization and land degradation; and
desertification and land degradation in drylands.
For more information, please contact: The Symposium Secretariat, International Symposium on Land Degradation and Desertification, IG-Instituto de Geografia, Universidade Federal de Uberlandia, AV. Joao Naves de Avila, n. 2160-Bloco 1H-Room 16-Campus Santa Monica 38408-100, Uberlandia-MG-Brazil, Fax 55-34-3239-4169, E-mail: [email protected], web site http://www.ig.ufu.br/comland/index.htm.
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Ninth North American agroforestry conference to be held in Minnesota, USA With the theme, "Moving agroforestry into the mainstream," the Ninth North American Agroforestry Conference will be held from 12 to 15 June 2005 at the Kahler Grand Hotel, Rochester, Minnesota. Agroforestry practitioners, scientists, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and agency representatives are invited to share their experiences through paper presentations, poster sessions, field trips and panel discussions on the successes of agroforestry, particularly on the following topics:
The conference is being coordinated by the Center for Integrated Natural Resources and Agricultural Management (CINRAM) at the University of Minnesota and the Southwest Badger Resource and Conservation and Development Council in Southwestern Wisconsin. For more information, please contact Dean Current, CINRAM, 115 Green Hall, 1530 Cleveland Avenue North, St. Paul, MN 55108-6112, E-mail [email protected]. Conference proceedings will be compiled in print and CD-ROM versions. |
Leah P. Arboleda ([email protected])
The Institute of Agroforestry, University of the Philippines Los Baños is pleased to announce the following agroforestry training courses for 2005 to 2006:
Planning and managing agroforestry projects (PMAP), to be held on 17 to 30 April 2005 and 16 to 29 April 2006
Sustainable agriculture through agroforestry initiatives of people in the uplands (SAGIP-Uplands), to be held on 22 May to 4 June 2005 and 21 May to 3 June 2006
Agroforestry production practices and management (AG-PRO), to be held on 26 June to 9 July 2005 and 25 June to 8 July 2006
Agroforestry post-production systems (AG-POST), to be held on 14 to 27 August 2005 and 13 to 26 August 2006
Participatory technology development for agroforestry (PT-DAF), to be held on 25 September to 8 October 2005 and 24 September to 7 October 2006
Promoting sustainable agroforestry livelihood and other enterprises (SALE), to be held on 6 to 19 November 2005 and 5 to 18 November 2006 (new course)
These courses are intended for project managers, supervisors, researchers, field technicians, farmer/community leaders and other development workers. Upon request, these courses may be offered on site as special training courses. Otherwise, other special courses may be developed to address the capability building needs of local and international institutions on agroforestry and related fields. Study tours are also arranged for foreign participants.
Interested participants may contact the Director, Institute of Agroforestry, 2/F Tamesis Hall, College of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of the Philippines Los Baños, PO Box 35023, College 4031 Laguna, Philippines.
The author can be contacted at the UPLB Institute of Agroforestry, College, Laguna, Philippines.
The International Farming Systems Association (IFSA), in collaboration with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD), will be holding the GLO from 12 to 16 September 2005 in Rome, Italy.
Development practitioners, educators, researchers and representatives of farmer organizations, civil society, businesses and other development agencies will gather to discuss, analyze and propose strategies and options to advance development priorities, mobilize resources and to form alliances and partnerships to address rural poverty, food security, gender equity and environmental sustainability.
With the overall theme, "Farming systems and poverty: making a difference," the GLO will address the following subthemes:
Food, agriculture and rural development policies in a globalizing world whereparticipants can share relevant R&D work, good practices and state-of-the-art technologies and important contributions to the World Food Summit and theMillennium Development Goals.
Trade and market linkages where participants can draw on learnings and lessons from increasing trade liberalization, farmer-market linkages with emphasis on agro-industry, complexity of supermarkets and market chains for small producers and urban consumers, impacts of pro-poor global trade agreements, growth of local food systems and effects of food safety and quality.
Knowing and learning processes where participants can find ways to analyze how people learn and share experiences and strengthen entrepreneurial capacities for peer-to-peer learning for better decision making in poor farm households.
Development strategies, pathways and synergies where participants can analyze the dynamics of farming systems that can facilitate the forging of partnerships and alliances to manage landscapes, intensify strategies, provide environmental services, promote landcare, conserve the natural resource base, promote biodiversity, diversify livelihoods, promote conservation agriculture, eco-agriculture and urban agriculture and link mitigation, risk and response for vulnerable systems and populations.
For more information, please contact Clive Lightfoot at [email protected] or Constance Neely at [email protected].
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Forestry education symposium April 2005 The SILVA-Network, the International Union of Forestry Research Organizations (IUFRO) and Wageningen University will hold the symposium "Forestry education: between science and practice" from 6 to 9 April 2005 at the Wageningen University, The Netherlands. The symposium will address the increasing need for forestry curricula to be multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary, and to include fundamental ecological knowledge and technical know-how, sociology, gender issues, economy, business administration and policy analysis. It will consider the three processes that play key roles in curriculum development that match the program with the labor market, as follows:
The symposium aims to define key challenges in the demands and changes of the forestry curricula, explore developments and determine future educational agenda. It hopes to develop strategies that can balance science and management in the curricula and the courses, identify the basic skills and competencies that students need to acquire, identify the type of curricula and courses needed and at which levels, how forestry education can be part of the natural resource management curricula and identify the opportunities presented by the Bologna process of standardizing higher education in Europe. For more information, please contact Pieter Schmidt (E-mail: [email protected], Hank Bartelink (E-mail: [email protected]) or visit the symposium web site at http://gis.joensuu.fi/silva. (with contribution from Liisa Tahvanainen) |
All interested stakeholders are invited to the Third World Congress on Conservation Agriculture (CA) to be held from 3 to 7 October 2005 in Nairobi, Kenya.
With the theme, "Linking production, livelihood and conservation," the congress aims to provide evidence and raise awareness on the potential contributions and impacts of CA to efforts towards attaining food security and poverty alleviation and enhancing natural resource resilience. It also hopes to facilitate interactions among the different stakeholders to enhance integrated efforts towards developing and promoting the application of CA practices.
Agricultural specialists, environmentalists, economists, farmers, representatives from donor institutions, the private sector, training institutions and government and nongovernmental organizations involved in agriculture and rural development are welcome to present papers, special case studies and/or posters on the following subthemes:
CA in building community resilience and ability to provide for own livelihood and development needs;
CA in mitigating/alleviating the effects of social ills (HIV-AIDS, urbanization, declining interest in farming among the young, etc.);
Socioeconomic, cultural, agroecological and technical factors in the sustainable adoption of CA
Soil life, biodiversity and agriculture
Policies and infrastructure support in enhancing CA adoption
CA contribution to global environment quality concerns (carbon sequestration, greenhouse effect, etc.)
Empowering farmers and farmer groups/associations in the development and adoption of CA
Effective research and dissemination strategies for CA adoption
Stakeholder partnership and collaboration across sectors and disciplines
Information-knowledge management
A multi-partner team, coordinated by the African Conservation Tillage Network (ACT), Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Kenya and the Kenya Conservation Tillage Initiative (KCTI), is organizing the event. Among the key partners are the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and the Regional Land Management Unit of the World Agroforestry Centre. It will have plenary sessions, case studies and special working groups, field visits, poster/video sessions, open time and information kiosks, special farmers’ sessions, postcongress excursions and special meetings around key issues/groupings.
For more information, please contact the Congress Secretariat at IIIWCCA Secretariat, No. 9, Balmoral Road, Borrowdale, Harare, Zimbabwe, Tel +263 4 882107, Fax +263 4 885596 or visit their web site at http://www.act.org.zw or http://www.fao.org/act-network.
