โ Scribed by H. J. Maydell
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
The 10th anniversary of The International Council for Research in Agroforestry, ICRAF, gives rise to reflect on the past and the future of agroforestry research. Ten years in terms of rural development is a very short period. However, as agroforestry is only a new term for age-old practices of integrated land use in almost all parts of the world, research and development date back far beyond 10 years. The same applies to broader fields of farming systems research and multiple-use forestry.
The new approach since ICRAF's foundation in 1977 has been to consequently join efforts by promoting international cooperation thus creating a general awareness of both, benefits and potentials of agroforestry. This has, however, in an amazing speed and to a never anticipated extent, raised expectations with regard to solving major problems of rural development. By far not all these expectations were justified, but many have had a stimulating effect on research and development. One of the major merits of ICRAF in its early years has, therefore, been to create such awareness, a deeper understanding and a more realistic approach to joint efforts in integrated land use. ICRAF with only a limited number of scientists and support staff, and with scarce funds has achieved an outstanding multiplier effect and has, in fact, worked as a catalyst for agroforestry worldwide. This deserves highest appreciation.
ICRAF's work is multi-disciplinary, which becomes evident from the following set of contributions which have been written by scientists with different background but the same dedication to ICRAF's mandate.
Agroforestry research must not be an end in itself. It is ICRAF's prime objective to serve people in solving their problems and in exploring and upgrading hitherto underutilized potentials. Although based on past experiences and retrospective evaluation, agroforestry research has to be, and in fact is, primarily future oriented. The challenge, therefore, is to offer technologies, methods and strategies for development beyond questions of the day. This implies working from assumptions, trend studies, and theories of probabilities as well as developing dynamic system-models for various decision levels.
Many open questions originate from problems of growth, i.e. growth of populations, of environmental degradation, of demand, production, pollu-
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