Agroforestry And Ecosystem Health

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INTRODUCTION
Rather forest land into agricultural land recognized cause many problems such as declining soil fertility, erosion, extinction of flora and fauna, floods, droughts and even global environmental change. This problem gets worse from time to time in line with the increase in forest area is converted into land-use of other business. Agroforestry is a land management system that may be offered to overcome problems arising from the transfer of land use mentioned above and also to overcome the food problem. Agroforestry, as a new branch of science in agriculture and forestry, attempt to identify and develop the existence of agroforestry systems that have been practiced since the first time farmers. Put simply, agroforestry is to plant trees on agricultural land, and it must be remembered that the farmer or society is essentially elements (subjects). Thus, agroforestry study not only focused on technical issues and biophysics, but also social issues, economics and culture that is always changing from time to time, so that agroforestry is a dynamic branch of science.


The presence of trees in agroforestry has two main roles. First, the tree can sustain crop production and provide a positive influence on the physical environment, primarily by slowing the loss of nutrients and energy, and resist destructive power of water and wind. Second, the result of trees plays an important role in the peasant household economy. Trees can produce 1) the product is used directly as food, fuel, building materials, 2) inputs for farming such as fodder, mulch, and 3) the product or activity that is able to provide employment or income to members of the household. Thus, socio-economic considerations of an agroforestry system is an important factor in the process of adoption of these systems by the users of land or development of these systems both by researchers, extension workers, government, or by farmers themselves.
Socioeconomic aspects of agroforestry is intended to answer the questions:
1. Why a farmer or farmer households, decided to choose a type or a particular cropping pattern is not select the type or pattern of planting another?
2. Why does a community develop agroforestry patterns that are different from other community groups?
3. How a farmer households benefited or harmed in an attempt to agroforestry.
There are four basic aspects that affect farmers' decisions to implement or not implement agroforestry, namely:
1. Feasibility (feasibility)
2. The advantage (profitability)
3. Whether or not accepted (acceptibility)
4. Sustainability (sustainability)

FEASIBILITY (feasibility)
Feasibility factors include whether the farmer is able to manage aspects of agroforestry with resources and technology they have, whether they are able to maintain and even develop resources and technologies.

Resources Available
Economic status
Planting trees is determined by the level of wealth (according to local size) and land status. The number of poor households (over a narrow area) who planted the trees less than wealthy households, as well as the number of trees planted by poor households fewer than the number of trees rich households (over land area). Poor households are more likely to master narrow land use land for food crops or cash crops rather than plant trees (Brokensha and Riley, 1987).
Land area
Narrow land ownership tends to reduce the interest of cultivating trees (Acacia mearnsii) in rural Banjarnegara, Wonosobo, and Gunung Kidul. Increasing population density means increased availability of labor per unit of land, so farmers prefer crops more intensively (Berenschot et al., 1988; Van Der Poel and Van Dijk, 1987). Column 1 presents the relationship between trees with land and labor allocation.
Effect of land area against the practice of agroforestry options depend on other factors, such as the availability of alternative sources of household economy and patterns of plant species composition according to the intensity of harvest time.

Land Quality
Based on his research on peasant communities in Peru - Amazon, Locker (1993) showed that in natural conditions are difficult (land is not fertile or poor) Peruvian farmers have developed a system of mixed farming that includes cultivation of crops a year (ie rice, maize, cassava), cultivation of annual crops (ie citrus, mango), and maintenance of cattle. The available land is very broad, whereas the availability of manpower is limited. Rearing cattle, although seen has caused damage to the environment (land degradation), an essential life strategies and provide multiple benefits for farmers.

GAIN (PROFITABILITY)
Is the application of agroforestry is more profitable than other land use systems? Before answering this question, keep in mind that agroforestry production systems have a peculiarity, among them:
• Generates more than one kind of product
• At the same land planted at least one type of seasonal crops and one type of annual plants / trees
• The products produced can be measured (tangible) and intangible (intangible)
There is a gap time (time lag) between the time of planting and harvesting of annual plant products / tree long enough economic analysis of an agroforestry system must consider the characteristics of agroforestry systems mentioned above
• agroforestry systems should consider the characteristics of agroforestry systems mentioned above.

Economic Concepts
Agroforestry systems can be said to benefit if 1) can produce more output using the same number of inputs, or 2) require a lower amount of input to produce the same output level. This condition is achieved when there is interaction between the components of mutual benefit both in terms of biophysics, as well as economic. Biophysical interactions (in Materials Doctrine 4) actually reflects the economic interactions, if the physical output per unit of land converted into money value per unit cost of production factors. As well as the interaction of biophysical, economic interaction between components in agroforestry systems can be beneficial, neutral, or competitive. Basic application of biophysical agroforestry is a positive interaction, which will produce positive economic interactions also increase output at the same level of resources, can be caused by the increase in the number of physical output or increase in price per unit of output. The former may be due to positive biophysical interactions, the latter can be caused by product quality or the proper harvest time. Similarly, reduction in input costs can be caused by a decrease in the amount of output required, or a decline in the price per unit of input. In general, positive biophysical interaction would result in decreased costs of inputs, for example in terms of manpower and other resource usage. The existence of shade trees to suppress weed growth, thus decreasing labor requirements. With the various components with different harvesting time, distribution of labor to be evenly distributed. Another example, in Costa Rica coffee grown in the shade of Cordia alliodora experience harvest 2.5 weeks slower than that without shade (Hoekstra, 1990). This makes the farmers' bargaining position is relatively high, due to avoid surplus production at the same time.

CONVENIENCE FOR RECEIVED (ACCEPTIBILITY)
Agroforestry systems can be easily accepted and developed if the benefits of agroforestry systems is greater than if applying the other system. This aspect is included in the calculation of risk, the flexibility of gender roles, conformity with the local culture, keselerasan with other businesses, etc.

Business Risk
Farm households with a narrow area very concerned with the equitable distribution of production from time to time, thus securing the needs throughout the year and utilize existing manpower resources. Security guarantees, including minimizing the risk of production or loss as a result of the diversity of ecological processes, economic, or social. This diversity includes the fluctuations 'small', for example changes in weather, pest attacks, changes in market demand, estimated resources, availability of labor, or interference 'big', which is caused by stress (eg nutrient poverty, erosion, salinity, toxicity, debt) or shock (eg drought, flooding, the emergence of new pests or diseases, a sharp increase in input prices or a decline in product prices). Scientists often reveal level of safety in production variability, which is based on statistical risk (eg drought). However, farmers may assess the safety of their farming systems according to food safety, or according to the degree of dependence on inputs, or in the marketing of products (Conway, 1987 in Reijntjes et al., 1992).
For farmers with small land, security, material subsistence production or income is important, given the continuity of their lives depended on it. Therefore, they need secure access to resources such as land, water, and trees. Search security influence the choice of techniques and strategies. For example, column 10 shows that farmers learn from experience to choose the right plants in agroforestry systems in Lampung.

ASSURANCE CONTINUITY (sustainability)
Land tenure systems and the agro-forestry (agroforestry resources for short) describe a set of rights held by a person or group of people in a pattern of social relationships on a unit of land and agroforestry result of the land. In short, who has what rights. These rights refer to the legal aspects of agroforestry resource tenure systems.

Land Tenure
Land tenure (property rights) is very important in the implementation of agroforestry. If there is no certainty of land tenure, then the incentive to plant trees / agroforestry became very weak, given the agroforestry system is a farming strategy in the long term. Investments made in land clearing and tree planting will be enjoyed in a much longer time. Therefore we need the certainty of land exploitation and trees to provide assurance to the farmers to enjoy the harvest. Figure 4 illustrates the agricultural land in different husbandry that is strong (individual ownership) and weak (open access). In an open access, labor will continue to grow along the average product is greater than wages (APN> w). Equilibrium occurs when the products are equal to the average wage (APN = w). Because the open access condition, there is no obstacle for people to work on the land.
In these circumstances there is no value of land rent, so there is no incentive to invest to implement agroforestry. Shifting cultivation agriculture that leads to a decrease of soil fertility, and no efforts to return to its original state, the farmers tend to choose to find new land and begin to exploit and make it more monoculture farms.

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