Improving agroforestry systems in the humid tropics

In the humid tropics, agroforestry systems (SAF) combine forest trees with perennial crops (coffee, cocoa, fruit, etc.), or even food crops or livestock. These SAF come from, on the one hand, natural forests in which part of the original vegetation has been replaced by productive trees or crops, and on the other hand, from the replanting of trees after clearing of the forest to food crops. These modes
of exploitation lead after a few years to a complex system of multiple productions.

In a context of decreasing available land, rural demographic pressure, food crisis, limits reached by conventional intensification of agriculture and climate change, agroforestry offers interesting prospects.

Improving the management of agroforestry systems, ensuring their environmental, technical and social sustainability represents an important challenge for research and development.