Agroforestry for Soil Conservation - World Agroforestry Centre

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(ii) the allelopathy >hd complementarity of various species;
(iii) the competition for solar energy among trees and between
trees "ud agricultural crops;
(iv) the morphology and physiology of various tree species,-
(v) leaf production and leaf fall of particular species and
the influence of their occurrence or competition for
solar energy and the nutrient cycle.
Moreover, new breeding schemes should be designed to obtain
those characteristics that are considered necessary for successful
and efficient intercropping.
In addition, as has been pointed out, there is a range of
socio-economic-institutional studies which must be made in order to
ensure that the people, for whom the system is designed, ultimately
benefit.
Such research, becuase of its very nature, should not be
haphazard and unplanned, but needs to ^e institutionalised and
well-funded. And much of it has to be undertaken in different
parts of the vropics.
It is also desirable that it be undertaken within the context
of general forestry research that is geared to the arrest of tropical
deforestation, and to the rehabilitation of critical areas that
have already been deforested or are without forest cover.
Accordingly, it is suggested that under the aegis of an
organisation such as the Consultative Group on International Agricul­
tural Research (CGIAR), or a similar agency, a fund be established
for tropical forestry research and development. Such a fund could
provide the finances necessary for a central co-ordinating research
organisation, which would establish a global network of research
stations and would utilize existing forestry research institutions
wherever-possibles -
Many of the recent advances in tropical agriculture have
occurred because of such an approach. It is submitted that the
problems of tropical forestry and tropical deforestation are no
less important, and no less intractable than many of the problems
of tropical agriculture. Accordingly, serious attempts should be
made to obtain the requisite funding and to establish the necessary
research capability.