The challenge of HIV/AIDS: Where does agroforestry fit in? - World ...

184World Agroforestry into the FutureMale-headed,Two adult residents,prime working age,own childrenOlder female-headedor two older adults,Non-resident childrenproviding support, possiblycaring for grandchildrenMale-headed,Male adultchronically illMale-headed,Female adultchronically illTwo unaffected adults,chronically ill childrenOther adultscaring formore childrenand ill adultsMale deathFemale-headedMale deathFemale-headedFemale deathMale-headedOther adultscaring formore childrenOrphan-headedSurvivingchildren mergedinto anotherhouseholdSurvivingchildren moveto urban areaTime and severity since beginning of epidemic in communityFigure 3. The evolution and different composition of households affected by AIDS.immune system and help protect againstopportunistic disease;• includes medicinal trees and other productsthat can help treat opportunisticinfections;• provides income generation opportunitiesthat are not labour-intensive;• offers a safety net of subsistence andincome (e.g. firewood for consumptionand for sale, animal fodder, potentiallyhigh-value tree products, building andthatching materials)• marks ownership of land; and• offers short-term and long-term labourmanagement possibilities.Improving soil fertilityOne of the greatest challenges for agriculturalhouseholds affected by HIV/AIDS isto maintain food production while copingwith reduced disposable income forpurchasing agricultural inputs. The WorldAgroforestry Centre and its partners in easternand southern Africa have developedseveral agroforestry methods for enhancingsoil fertility and maintaining soil quality. Inthe highly populated bimodal rainfall areasof western Kenya, the emphasis has beenon short-duration improved fallows andbiomass transfer. In the relatively sparselypopulated, unimodal rainfall areas of easternZambia, the emphasis has been on2–3-year fallows. Some farmers in easternZambia are using biomass transfer as aninput into the production of garlic, a plantknown for its anti-oxidant properties. In thedensely populated areas of Malawi, leguminoustrees are being intercropped withmaize. All these systems have met withapproval, with a total of some 250,000farmers now testing or adopting one/someof the practices by 2004. In areas with suitableproduction characteristics, improvedfallows allow farmers to produce maizeyields roughly similar to those obtainedusing recommended levels of inorganicnitrogen fertilizer, and two to five timeshigher than yields obtained under continuousmaize production without fertilizer.Economic returns to land and labour tendto be 20–100 percent greater using improvedfallows than with continuous maizeproduction without fertilizer, although thefigures do not reach those achieved whenmaize is grown with fertilizer (Rommelse2001; Franzel et al. 2002). Table 1 illustratesthe success of improved fallows ineastern Zambia.Studies on these systems generally showthat adoption levels are relatively similarfor male- and female-headed householdsand for households with different levels ofeducation. In addition to addressing issuesof soil fertility and quality, improved fallowsalso provide households with nearbysources of fodder and fuelwood, thus contributingto reduced overall labour requirementsfor the family (Ajayi et al. 2003).Agroforestry foodsPeople living with HIV are trapped in avicious cycle in which repeated episodesof illness weaken the body and acceleratethe onset of AIDS. HIV weakens the immunesystem and people become ill morefrequently. Repeated illness reduces appetiteand, at the same time, nutrients are lost