strategy
Using hedgerow intercropping
Synonyms:
Employing alley cropping systemsUsing alley farming
Description:
Alley cropping is an agroforestry technique that integrates trees with crops to provide fertilizer and mulch. With careful design, this technique can also provide erosion control, windbreak, and animal fodder. The systems approach enables the trees to work together with other elements to provide many more benefits than the elements could provide independently.
Context:
Research shows that hedgerow intercropping is most advantageous in areas where (a) the subsoils are fertile and the rainfall reliable, thus minimizing competition; (b) slopes are steep, so that erosion control is an added advantage; (c) land tenure is secure; and (d) labour is available at low cost.
Implementation:
Contour hedgerows are efficient in soil conservation even in severe storms when conventional collection traps are unable to cope with the deluge. Long-term studies on 14% slopes at Machakos, Kenya, show that contour hedgerows of cassia and leucaena conserve 82% of the runoff and prevent 98% of erosion losses when compared with sole crops during infrequent but highly erosive rainstorms.
Broader:
IntercroppingUsing living fencesUsing polycultural, multistoried agroforestry in highlandsMinimizing soil erosion Facilitates:
Protecting hedges and hedgerow trees Problems:
Destruction of hedges and hedgerow treesSubjects:
Agriculture, Fisheries → CropsAgriculture, Fisheries → Horticulture
→ Systems
Social Activity → Employers
Transportation, Telecommunications → Roads
Type Classification:
D: Detailed strategies Related UN Sustainable Development Goals:
