Agroforestry Design for Sustainable Production Systems in the U.S.-Affiliated Pacific Islands

Agroforestry Design for Sustainable Production Systems in the U.S.-Affiliated Pacific Islands

Summary

This project will enhance the ability of agricultural professionals in the Pacific to address food security and natural resource concerns through agroforestry. For millennia, Pacific Islanders relied upon their broad-scale agroforestry systems for sustainable supply of food, fiber, medicine, and materials. These highly productive systems simultaneously provided ecosystem services such as soil and water conservation in the uplands and coastal protection along rivers and coastlines. Many of the legacy agroforestry trees in the U.S.-affiliated Pacific Islands were removed over the past 100 years to accommodate plantation monocultures, open pasture, and urbanization. 

Over the past 20 years, there has been increasing awareness of agroforestry as a means of addressing food security, local economic development, and resource conservation needs. A recent survey of participants in the April–June 2015 WSARE-sponsored professional development workshop series “Creative Agroforestry for Food Production in Farm, Home, and Community Landscapes” showed that agroforestry design was the highest priority for further education among agricultural professionals and educators (as well as producers). 

Experts in agroforestry design, establishment, and management will author a technical publication for professionals, integrating time-tested traditional Pacific Island agroforestry practices with modern knowledge and technology. All authors also have extensive hands-on agricultural field experience in the Pacific. The publication will be used as the primary resource for a professional development workshop series to take place in Hawai‘i, Guam, and Pohnpei, and will be distributed freely in electronic form. 

Objectives/Performance Targets

This project will produce a comprehensive manual for design and management of agroforestry production systems in the U.S.-affiliated Pacific Islands followed by workshops to be presented in Hawai‘i, Guam, and Pohnpei.

Objective 1: Author a comprehensive agroforestry design manual for the U.S.-affiliated Pacific Islands.

Objective 2: Present professional development workshops in Hawai‘i, Guam, and Pohnpei based on the design manual.

Accomplishments/Milestones

During 2016, this project formed a multidisciplinary team of experts to author the agroforestry design manual. The team is composed of seven professionals with wide ranging experience in Pacific Island agroforestry and in-depth knowledge in the specialties of soil science, forestry, urban forestry, native plants, wildfire management, field implementation, community economic development, and value-added processing. Chapters cover the above topics under the following general headings:

• Design methods
• Soil restoration
• Native and cultural plants in agroforestry
• Fire risk mitigation
• Managing tree/crop competition
• Commercial enterprise development

Chapter authors have outlined their chapters in detail and are currently authoring full drafts for editorial submission during the first quarter of 2017.

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

The following outcomes are expected from this project:

Short term

Bring together traditional and scientific knowledge about designing Pacific Island agroforestry systems in a readily accessible form.

Raise awareness of agroforestry as a viable and sustainable strategy for food production, soil and water resource conservation, and climate change adaptation.

Stimulate development of educational curricula in agroforestry in universities, colleges, and vocational schools.

Form a knowledge base that can be used to justify research and demonstration of sustainable agroforestry systems.

Increase awareness of viable strategies for agroforestry systems and strategies for implementing them in target audiences.

Increase understanding of the ecological and economic implications of agroforestry, both advantages and disadvantages.

Medium term

Train a new generation of agricultural professionals who will share agroforestry with the general public.

Extension professionals will increasingly recommend agroforestry systems to clientele as ecologically and economically sustainable alternatives.

Agricultural micro-enterprises will be strengthened by availability of crops for local and export markets, as well as value-added opportunities.

University and other research entities will increase their research efforts into diverse and sustainable local food systems.

Long term

Soil and water quality improvement due to conservation services provided by appropriately designed agroforestry systems.

Decreased use of chemical pollutants in human landscapes.

Improved adaptation of local food systems to weather extremes expected due to climate change.

Rural livelihoods will be improved through crop diversification and development of new local and export markets.

Collaborators: