Introductory Agroforestry

Basic Principles and Procedures

BASIC PRINCIPLES & PROCEDURES and DIAGNOSTIC STAGE

I. BASIC PRINCIPLES AND PROCEDURES

Step 1. Planning of study

• Identify objectives
• Specify area to be covered
• Identify collaborating institutions and staff
• Select and adapt D&D methods to be used
Step 2. Regional Reconnaissance

• Identify, map and describe major land units and population distribution
Step 3. Identification and preliminary description of land use system

• Differentiate and describe important land use systems
• Make a preliminary assessment of their constraints and problems
• Make a preliminary assessment of their agroforestry potential
Step 4. Site selection

• Select land use systems for priority attention based on:
• Severity of problems
• Agroforestry potential
• Regional representativeness
• Select sites representative of the chosen systems for in depth D&D
II. DIAGNOSTIC STAGE

Step 5. Diagnostic survey

• Conduct field survey of representative management units to identify common land use strategies and problems
• Troubleshoot the production systems to identify causal factors and constraints
• Investigate interactions between and within management units and processes in the general landscape
Step 6. Diagnostic analysis

• Analyze field data to identify key constraints and intervention points for development of system potential
• Assess sustainability problems
Step 7. Specifications for appropriate interventions

• List system specifications
• Functional specification for interventions
• Design constraints
• Desirable attributes of new technology
• Overall development strategy for the system