Resource Centers

Institute of Terrestrial Ecology

After more than three years as Research Director of ICRAF, Roger Leakey returned to ITE in 1998, where he continues to pursue his interest in tropical agroforestry. /GJM

The Institute of Terrestrial Ecology (ITE) forms part of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), an organization funded by the British government. ITE offers services in research, training, consultancy and supervision of development projects. It provides UK-based and field training opportunities for postgraduate study in collaboration with British universities, and a range of manuals and videos.

ITE’s Tropical Forests Section promotes the restoration and conservation of tropical forests by conducting research on (1) improving the growth and quality of timber, fruit and medicinal trees; (2) enhancing tree regeneration in natural forests, woodlands, plantations and farm land; and (3) maintaining intra- and interspecific diversity in plantations, agroforests and enriched forests. Specific research interests include tropical tree biology, economic botany, conservation and management of genetic resources, silviculture and agroforestry, land management, and domestication of tropical forest resources. The Tropical Forests Section is part of the Edinburgh Centre for Tropical Forests (ECTF, see page 6 of this Handbook).

© Dr. Roger R.B. Leakey, Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, Edinburgh Research Station, Bush Estate, Penicuik, Midlothian EH26 0QB, UK; Tel. +44.131.4454343, Fax +44.131.4453943, E-mail rrbl@ite.ac.uk,
Website http://www.nmw.ac.uk.ite/edin/

‘New initiatives in agroforestry are seeking to integrate into tropical farming systems indigenous trees whose products have traditionally been gathered from natural forests ... to generate cash for resource-poor rural and peri-urban households. This poverty-alleviating agroforestry strategy is at the same time linked to one in which perennial, biologically diverse and complex mature stage agroecosystems are developed as sustainable alternatives to slash-and-burn agriculture.’

Leakey, R.R.B. and A.J. Simons. 1998. The domestication and commercialization of indigenous trees in agroforestry for the alleviation of poverty. Agroforestry Systems 38:165-176.

Laboratoire de Botanique Tropicale, University of Montpellier II

The Laboratoire de Botanique is best known for the its work on modular growth of trees, plant morphogenesis and architectural models. However, since the eraly 1980s, the laboratory has also spicialized in the field of indigenous tropical agrforestry systems, helping to make them well known at an international level./ YAT

Researchers from the Laboratoire de Botanique Tropicale of the Université de Montpellier II conduct basic and applied research to contribute to the understanding of tropical biology and support the development of tropical countries. Since 1971, the Laboratoire’s staff and students have been exploring agroforestry, tree architecture, ethnobotany, the biology of tropical forest canopies and the coevolution of plants and insects. These studies, which focus on the humid tropics, are carried out in collaboration with research organizations of the host country as well as international and private institutions.

Researchers have documented agroforestry systems in Brazil, Cameroon, Indonesia, Madagascar and Comoros, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vanuatu, the West Indies and elsewhere, looking in particular at their potential for providing solutions to environmental problems such as deforestation. Medicinal and food plants are the focus of ethnobotanical research, including market surveys and studies of new plant uses. The Laboratoire has a special interest in traditional tropical phytopractices.

Training is another important aspect of the Laboratoire’s activities. Courses are available for undergraduate and graduate students, and for professionals from development organizations.

© Prof. Francis Hallé, Laboratoire de Botanique Tropicale, Institut de Botanique, 163 rue Auguste Broussonnet, 34000 Montpellier, France;
Tel. +33.4.67413748,
Fax +33.4.67041870,
E-mail botatrop@isem.univ-montp2.fr

‘Fruit trees often have a long unproductive juvenile stage. The durian (Durio zibethinus), for example, a very important fruit tree in Asia, has a sterile juvenile period of eight years. Moreover, the adult may reach a height of 30 m, which complicates fruit collection.

In Thailand, a branch from a seedling is grafted to the branch of an adult tree which is already producing abundant fruit. A successful graft results in a tree with a mixed structure (juvenile base, adult top). Consistent with present concepts on the morphogenesis of perennial plants, the tree produces fruit in four years on a shorter and more accessible tree. Similar approaches to encouraging precocity have been reported for mamey (Calocarpum sapota, Sapotaceae) in Central America and from castanha-do-Pará (Bertholletia excelsa, Lecythidaceae) in the Brazilian Amazon.’

Precipitating Durian fruit production

Hallé, F. 1996. Discovering traditional tropical phytopractices. Nature and Resources 32(3):31-38.

‘Phytopractices’ are all treatments which improve, select, propagate or preserve plant growth.

 

University of the Philippines Los Baños Institute of Agroforestry

The University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) initiated the UPLB Agroforestry Program (UAP) in 1991 to promote agroforestry as a strategy for upland resource development and conservation. UAP was elevated to the status of Institute of Agroforestry (IAF) in June 1998 as part of the reorganized and renamed UPLB College of Forestry and Natural Resources. Because agroforestry is a multidisciplinary field, the Institute continues to draw strength and resources from various units of the UPLB. IAF maintains its role in coordinating the university-wide planning and implementation of agroforestry projects and activities.

IAF develops formal and non-formal curricular programs to strengthen agroforestry education both within the University and in partnership with local and international institutions. It also initiates networking projects that link UPLB with other universities and concerned institutions to promote agroforestry education in the Philippines and Southeast Asia. These efforts are aimed at generating highly motivated, field-oriented and technically capable professionals and technicians in agroforestry.

IAF’s current agroforestry research interests include documenting and evaluating indigenous and introduced agroforestry technologies, and developing new technologies for sustainable development. The Institute administers research fellowship programs and is presently establishing a network of agroforestry field laboratories for instruction, research and extension purposes. The Institute is also concerned with methodology development, formulation of planning and evaluation tools, and implementation of other basic and applied agroforestry research. Through these collaborative projects, IAF hopes to generate culturally acceptable, technically feasible, economically viable and environmentally sustainable technologies.

The Institute provides a range of rural development services. These include responding to requests for technical assistance in agroforestry and related fields; providing assistance in the establishment of agroforestry training and resource centers; on-site implementation of agroforestry training courses, workshops and seminars; and evaluation of agroforestry projects. Various multimedia materials are being developed to disseminate information on agroforestry and other sustainable technologies. Regular publications include the Philippine Agroforestry Development News (biannually), and the Agroforestry Monitor (monthly). Training manuals on various aspects of agroforestry are also produced.

IAF offers one to three week training courses on agroforestry. These include Agroforestry Project Planning and Management, Agroforestry Seed Technology and Nursery Management, Integrated Pest Management for Agroforest Farms, Soil and Water Conservation and Management for Agroforest Farms, Agroforestry Technology Verification through On-Farm Trials, and Agroforestry Production and Post-Production Systems. Originally designed for field technicians, project managers and staff from the Philippines, the courses now cater to participants from other tropical countries.

These undertakings cater to the needs of farmers, students, technical field personnel, academicians, researchers and other agroforestry practitioners coming from NGOs, government agencies, local government units, academic and research institutions, and peoples’ organizations in the Philippines. Partnership and collaboration with concerned international institutions enable IAF to develop and implement other relevant agroforestry projects.

© Dr. Romulo A. del Castillo, Director, Institute
of Agroforestry, 2/F Tamesis Hall, College
of Forestry and Natural Resources, UPLB,
P.O. Box 35023, 4031 College, Laguna, Philippines;
Tel. +63.49.5362657 or 5363657,
Fax +63.49.5363809,
E-mail radc@laguna.net or iaf@laguna.net

 

‘The Aeta natives are still committed to their forest and farm. The forest extends from the boundary of the reservation to the [Bataan National Park, parke] and adjacent Subic Forest...Some swidden farms located on very steep slopes (kalaanan) have been abandoned allowing the growth of secondary forest. They occasionally visit these farms to harvest fruits and gather fuelwood and medicinal plants. For fuelwood, Aeta gather only stems and branches of trees as well as dead fallen trees. They do not cut any tree.

The farm, on the other hand, provides them with subsistence and cash crops. It is further subdivided into: lorta, sitio and hulo. Lorta is a flat area within the upland community suitable for growing cash crops, mainly sweet potatoes. It is usually located close to their settlement... The sitio where their huts are located serves as the center of important community activities like meetings or relief distribution. Also found here are the health center, a teacher’s house and a Methodist chapel which also serves as the school. Hulo means “a distant place” embracing the farm and forest. Located here are the buhuan, bukid, gasak and kalaanan. It is interesting to note that a typical Aeta family cultivates a portion of land in the lorta, another one or more parcels in the hulo where the family maintains a bukid and a gasak or kalaanan.

The communally-owned buhuan (bamboo plantation) can be freely used by anyone to get buho (Schizostachyam lumampao) as house materials... Their bukid or terraced ricefields are surrounded with various forest and fruit trees including mango, cashew and coffee.’

Baril, M.T.A. 1996. Environmental changes and resource use patterns among the Aetas in Morong, Bataan. Philippine Agroforestry Development News 3(1):6-13.