Table 1.
Classification of agroforestry systems and specific practices
| Agroforestry system | Specific practices | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| Agrisilvicultural (crops and trees) | Improved or rotational fallow | Land resting system using trees and shrubs to replenish soil fertility, sometimes in rotation with crops as in traditional shifting cultivation |
| Multipurpose trees on parklands or lots (mixed trees and crops) | Scattered trees in parklands (landscapes derived from agricultural activities) or other land area or in systematic patterns on bunds, terraces, or plot/field boundaries | |
| Mixture of plantation crops | Combination of plantation crops in an intercropping system in alternate arrangement, including use of shade trees for cash crops | |
| Tree gardens | Cultivation of a mixture of several fruit and other useful trees, sometimes with the inclusion of annual crops. This arrangement is sometimes referred to as homegardens | |
| Alley cropping | Planting rows of trees with a companion crop grown in the alleyways between the rows | |
| Shelterbelts | Extended windbreak of living trees and shrubs established and maintained to protect farmlands (beyond a single farm) | |
| Silvopastoral (pasture/animals and trees) | Multipurpose fodder trees or shrubs around farmlands (protein bank) | Production of protein‐rich tree fodder on farm/rangelands |
| Living fences and shelterbelts | Trees as fences around plots and/or an extended windbreak of living trees and shrubs established and maintained to protect farmlands and provide fodder | |
| Integrated production of animal/dairy and wood products | Production of animal/dairy and wood products within the same land area | |
| Trees/shrubs on pasture | Trees scattered irregularly or arranged according to some systematic pattern | |
| Agrosilvopastoral (crops, pasture/animals, and trees) | Integrated production of animals (meat and dairy), crops, and wood/fuelwood | Production of crops, animal/dairy, and wood products within the same land area, including around homesteads |
| Woody hedgerows for browse, green manure, soil conservation | Multipurpose woody hedgerows for browse, mulch, green manure, soil conservation, and so forth | |
| Wooded pasture products | Land covered with grasses and other herbaceous species, and with woody species | |
| Agroforestry including insects/fish | Entomoforestry | The combination of trees and insects (e.g., bees for honey and trees) |
| Aqua‐silvo‐fishery | Trees lining fish ponds, tree leaves being used as “forage” for fish |