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Keywords:Extension, farmer-centred research, fodder shrubs,landcare, natural vegetative strips, tree fallowsChapter 7Scaling up the impact of agroforestry:Lessons from three sites in Africa and Asia 1S. Franzel, G.L. Denning, J-P. Lillesø-Barnekow, World Agroforestry Centre, Kenya and A.R. Mercado Jr, WorldAgroforestry Centre, the PhilippinesAbstractThis chapter assesses recent lessons learned from attempts to scale up agroforestry improvements,drawing on three case studies: fodder shrubs in Kenya, improved tree fallows in Zambia and naturalvegetative strips coupled with the Landcare movement in the Philippines. Currently, more than 15 000farmers use each of these innovations. Based on an examination of the main factors facilitating theirspread, 10 key elements of scaling up are presented. These include: taking a farmer-centred researchand extension approach; providing a range of technical options; building local institutional capacity;sharing knowledge and information; learning from successes and failures; and strategic partnershipsand facilitation. Three other elements are important for scaling up: marketing, germplasm productionand distribution systems, and policy options, although the three case study projects had only a marginalreliance on these. As different as the strategies for scaling up are, they face similar challenges. Facilitatorsneed to develop exit strategies, find ways to maintain bottom-up approaches as innovations spread,assess whether and how successful strategies can be adapted to different sites and countries, examineunder which circumstances they should scale up innovations and under which circumstances theyshould scale up processes, and determine how the costs of scaling up may be reduced.IntroductionDuring the past two decades, researchers have workedwith farmers throughout the tropics to identify anddevelop improved agroforestry practices that buildon local indigenous knowledge and offer substantialbenefits to households and the environment (Cooper etal. 1996; Franzel and Scherr 2002; Place et al. 2002;Sanchez 1995). Research and development projectshave demonstrated in many instances that agroforestryincreases household incomes, generates environmentalbenefits, and is particularly well suited to poor andfemale farmers. But in most cases these success storieshave been confined to localized sites, often with unusuallyconcentrated institutional support from researchand development organizations.As a consequence, considerable attention has beendevoted in recent years to ‘scaling up’ the benefits ofresearch, that is, ‘bringing more quality benefits tomore people over a wider geographical area, morequickly, more equitably, and more lastingly’ (IIRR2000). The issue of scaling up is particularly important1This chapter is a shortened version of a longer published paper: Franzel, S., G.L. Denning, J.P.B. Lillesø and A.R. Mercado 2004.Scaling up the impact of agroforestry: Lessons from three sites in Africa and Asia. Agroforestry Systems 61–62(1–3): 329–344.