A healthy soil can function as a living ecosystem that sustains biological productivity while maintaining the quality of the abiotic environment and protecting all life forms on a global scale. It is an important indicator of agricultural sustainability. Agroforestry systems are regenerative and sustainable land-use practices that contribute to improving soil health. They enhance soil organic carbon storage, nutrient availability, soil structure and microbial community diversity. These are key factors that contribute to increasing the diversity of life forms in the soil and improve its health. However, to what extent can agroforestry systems fulfil this role? What conditions are needed for agroforestry systems to maximize soil health and productivity? Questions like those are still unresolved and require more research. The aim of this session is to discover pathways for agroforestry to contribute to transitioning to healthy soils.
CIFOR-ICRAF Speaker
Eltson Eteckji Fonkeng
Presentations
Soil organic carbon accumulation rates in tropical silvopastoral systems of southern Mexico
Deb Raj Aryal, CONACYT – Universidad Autónoma de Chiapas, Mexico
Assessing legume tree and shrub impacts on nitrogen cycling in banana cropping systems
Antoine Galiana, CIRAD, France
Natural terrace formation in agroforestry systems for soil conservation in uplands of northwest Vietnam
Van Hung Do, Department of Crop Production Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Sweden
Conversion of savannah to cocoa agroforestry systems or other land uses: medium and long-term impacts on different soil organic C pools
Eltson Eteckji Fonkeng, ICRAF (World Agroforestry), Cameroon
Soil fertility after a prescribed burning combined with silvopasture in Galicia (NW Spain)
Nuria Ferreiro-Domínguez, University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain
