Agroforestry technology to bridge divergent between farmer production goal and government environmental goal

Abstract

Soil conservation problems in developing countries involve a large group of farmers. These farmers normally characterized with the following attributes: a) small land holding size (between 0.5 ha—2 ha), b) low income and, c) short term view, which causing lack of environmental appreciation. These attributes should be taken into consideration in introducing technology for sustainable soil conservation. Mechanical structures such as terracing, gully plug, etc proofed to be not sustainable in this environment due to high input and maintenance cost and high labor requirement, which small farmer with low income hardly can afford. Sustainable soil conservation in this environment has two aspects: (1) appropriate type of technology and (2) active’s farmer participation. Appropriate technology calls for a balance between production goals and environmental goal. Farmers are concern toward production goals while most development projects and government agencies promoting watershed management are concern toward conservation and environmental goals benefiting people living at downstream. This study focuses on evaluation of sustainability index of various land use systems for soil conservation practices in the area where small land holding farmer are dominant. Indicators used for evaluation are: 􀁺 Profitability indicators: Return to labor (smallholder’s concern), Year to positive cash flow and return to land (government’s concern) 􀁺 Agronomic indicators: Soil compaction and soil exposure 􀁺 Environmental indicators: Erosion on-site (smallholder’s concern), reservoir sedimentation rate (government’s concern) From those indicators sustainability index of various land use systems for soil conservation practices was determined using analytical hierarchy process. Among selected land use system, agroforestry technology received highest sustainability index. It means, agroforestry practices will better bridge gap of farmer production goal and government environmental goal.