On-farm agroforestry research in extension programmes: methods used by BAIF in India

✍ Scribed by Narayan G. Hedge

• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 1991
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 679 KB
• Volume: 15
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0167-4366
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00120188

✦ Synopsis

The BAIF Development Research Foundation initiated an agroforestry extension project in Pune District, India in 1984, following earlier on-station research on leuceana-based alley-cropping systems for fodder. In extension meetings, farmers expressed a strong preference for planting a wide range of multipurpose trees on farm bunds and borders rather than single-species alley-cropping. Researcher-managed trials of proposed multipurpose species grown with crops were initiated, but were of limited value. An alternative approach to research was begun in 1988. This approach included a survey of agroforestry practices established by farmers through extension, and collection of data on crop yields by distance from the tree line from a sample of these plots. Research methods are described and modifications suggested for improving the quality of this type of extension-based research.