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Using mechanistic land-use models to explore the potential of agroforestry for enhancing ecological and economic functions

Subject Area Forestry
Term from 2017 to 2023
Project identifier Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 388768018
 
Final Report Year 2023

Final Report Abstract

This pioneering research project explored the potential of agroforestry systems to enhance ecological and socio-economic functions at an agriculture-forest frontier in eastern Panama. Agroforestry, a land-use system that combines farming and forestry, has clear potential to increase ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes while benefiting socio-economic needs. Yet it remains unclear under which conditions and to what extent agroforestry might contribute to multifunctional farms and landscapes to reduce potentially competing objectives. We present a robust multi-objective optimization model that integrates scientific and farmer knowledge, all aspects of sustainability, a wide range of land-cover options and uncertainties about variability in land-cover performances. Our results demonstrate that agroforestry, and particularly silvopasture, can be a promising land-use option for reducing trade-offs between ecological and socio-economic objectives. By diversifying land-use, integrating trees on farms can buffer against uncertainty and increase landscape multifunctionality. This could potentially transform conventional farming methods and reduce land-use conflicts between groups with differing objectives. Surprisingly, however, while increased landscape multifunctionality can be ecologically and socio-economically beneficial in agricultural areas, it may encourage deforestation in forest-dominated landscapes. Importantly, local farmers reported positive perceptions of the agroforestry systems we investigated, indicating that they are open to this farming practice. Agroforestry may be particularly attractive to wealthier farmers, as well as those with less-favorable growing conditions for annual crops. However, cost-sharing arrangements, labor availability, silvicultural training and access to timber markets could alleviate socio-economic constraints and make agroforestry more broadly appealing. Surprisingly, we found that farmers’ stated and revealed land-use preferences differed. In surveys, farmers expressed a clear preference for silvopasture (including the culturally preferred cattle component) rating it as the most likely to contribute to long-term income and economic stability. However, farmers’ actual land-use practices revealed that the need for liquidity and household food and materials overrode this preference. This highlights the importance of considering less-tangible motivations and cultural values in land-use planning. Although we tested our optimization model in an agricultural region in Panama, it can be easily applied to land-use systems in other tropical or temperate regions, and potentially contribute to the development of hybrid models. By advancing our understanding of socio-ecological landscapes at the tropical forest frontier, our results can support future agroforestry research and policy. The project’s success has been recognized internationally. Our results have been published in respected international journals like Agroforestry Systems and Journal of Environmental Management, received accolades like the Gerhard Speidel Award 2022 for outstanding achievement, and were honored with a keynote presentation at the World Agroforestry Conference 2019.

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