Realising the potential of agroforestry. Integrating research and development to achieve greater impact

For more than two decades agroforestry has been heralded and actively promoted as a practicaland 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 1978and its support by the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR)since 1991. Functioning initially as an information council during the 1980s, ICRAF in 1991shifted its emphasis towards strategic research to strengthen the scientific basis for advocatingagroforestry. This significant investment in process-oriented research greatly enhancedunderstanding of the opportunities and limitations of agroforestry and led to more criticalassessments of its potential use (Sanchez 1995, 1999). As a result, agroforestry progressed from being an indigenous practice of great potential and romantic appeal to that of a science-based system for managing natural resources (S anchez 1995; Izac and Sanchez in press).By the mid-1990s, the farm-level impact of agroforestry research was beginning to be observed in Africa and Asia. Much of this impact was a direct consequence of farmer-participatory research undertaken by ICRAF and its partners. Between 1992 and 1997, the number of farmers participating in on-farm research increased from 700 to more than 7000(ICRAF 1998). Through such research, farmers acquired experience with the innovations, and this experience laid the foundation for pilot dissemination projects, and increased exposure to other farmers who did not directly participate in the research phase.

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DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1080/09614520120066693

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