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HOME GARDEN TECHNOLOGY LEAFLET 11

LIVING FENCES

PROTECTION WITH PRODUCTION

Food crops need protection from animals and, sometimes, people. The idea behind a living fence is to use certain plants that make good fences and at the same time produce useful things for people, for livestock and for soil improvement. A good living fence can:

provide fuelwood, animal feed, fruits, building materials, etc.;
serve as a windbreak;
repel insects and pests.
Table 1 lists the products and other benefits of living fences and the types of plants and trees that provide them.

TABLE 1
The different benefits and uses of living fences

Fuelwood, timber and basket-weaving	Fruits and other food	Fodder and feed	Mulch and green manure
Acacia spp.	Annona squamosa	Acacia albida	Acacia
Bamboo	Balanites aegyptiaca	Acacia nilotica	Crotalaria ochroleuca
Casiorina	Banana	Acacia tortilis	Gliricidia spp.
Colletia spinosissima	Bitter leaf	Artocarpus spp.
Eucalyptus spp.	Cassava	Gliricidia sepium
Parkia biglobosa	Drumstick	Grewia optiva
Prosopis africana	Papaya	Leucaena leucocephala
Pterocarpus spp.	Passionfruit	Morus spp.
Raphia palm	Pigeon pea	Ziziphus mauritaniana
Schinus molle	Yam

Table 2 lists plant and tree types suited as living fences for specific areas.

TABLE 2
Species for living fences in humid, semi-arid and arid zones

Species for arid and semi-arid zones	Species for humid tropics
Acacia mellifera	Aberia caffra
Acacia tortilis	Agave
Caesalpina	Crotalaria
Dichrostachya cinerea	Euphorbia
Jatropha curcas	Erythrina
Opuntia ficus indica	Gliricidia sepium
Parkinsonia aculeata	Leucaena leucocephala
Prosopis	Yucca
Ziziphus

These tree types are only examples. The local agricultural extension worker can suggest living fence tree types suitable to the local area.

EXAMPLES OF LIVING FENCES WITHIN A HOME GARDEN

Goats that roam freely in villages can cause a great deal of damage to home gardens. Fences should be erected around vegetable areas and other food crops. A living fence of Leucaena sp. planted close together and bound with strips of bamboo will keep goats out and at the same time provide them with fodder. Another type of fence can be made with sticks of cassava bound with bamboo strips.

FIGURE 1
Plant a living fence with edible leaves

Chickens that roam freely in the home garden and scavenge for food, such as insects, worms and larvae, also strip leaves from plants and seriously damage vegetables and young plants. Living fences around plants help keep chickens out. The type of living fence selected depends on the area. The local agricultural extension worker can assist home garden managers in choosing the appropriate type of living fence for a particular area and purpose.

FIGURE 2
Plant cassava or use bamboo or other sticks around plants

FIGURE 3
Protect root crops by placing coconut shells around the base of each plant

FIGURE 4
Living fence, using cactus plants or agave surrounding a home garden