Scaling up Agroforestry to Achieve Food Security and Environmental Protection among Smallholder Farmers in Malawi
Scaling up Agroforestry to Achieve Food Security and Environmental Protection among Smallholder Farmers in Malawi
复制标题
扩大农林业以实现马拉维小农的粮食安全和环境保护
DOI：
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发表时间：
2013
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
Simons Aj
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
T. Beedy;O. Ajayi;G. Sileshi;G. Kundhlande;G. Chiundu;Simons Aj
马拉维是非洲南部的一个内陆国家。马拉维1 300万人口中有四分之三依靠小农农业维持生计。人口增加、森林砍伐加速、土壤和水管理不善、贫困和土地退化加剧，直接影响到数百万马拉维人的粮食安全和人类健康。将联合收割机、农林业和少量无机肥料结合在一起的耕作制度，在退化的土壤上产生的粮食作物产量高于单独使用无机肥料的产量，并在数年内恢复土壤养分。这些农林业做法改善了农户的生计，降低了与化肥价格上涨和干旱有关的风险，同时改善了农业生态系统的生物多样性以及养分和水的循环。世界农林中心（农林中心）在马拉维的农林研究和发展历史悠久，可追溯到1980年代。2007-2011年，农林中心在爱尔兰援助署的财政支助下实施了马拉维农林粮食安全项目。农林中心在农业和农村安全方案中的任务是建立一个强有力的伙伴关系，以覆盖11个地区的200 000个农业家庭。AFSP的目的是将经过检验的农林实践、有效的伙伴关系和知情的政策结合起来，通过加速采用肥料树、果树、饲料树和薪材树，提高马拉维农村社区的粮食安全和收入，改善生计机会。为了实现这些目的，农林中心向农业社区提供种植材料（树种和树苗），以及如何照料这些材料并将其与粮食作物有效地联合收割机结合起来的知识。该项目的受益者看到家庭粮食安全和营养得到改善。然而，在及时将树种和树苗运送到11个地区以及在管理如此庞大的合作者群体的报告流程和资金支付方面遇到了困难。实施了若干解决方案，改善了这些领域的业绩，使小组能够达到非常接近目标的参与者人数，并为项目的第二阶段制定计划。
Malawi is a land-locked country in southern Africa. Three-fourths of Malawi’s 13 million people rely on smallholder agriculture for their livelihoods. Increasing population, accelerating deforestation, poor soil and water management, and increasing poverty and land degradation directly impact the food security and human health of millions of Malawians. Cropping systems which combine cereal crops, agroforestry and small doses of inorganic fertilizers produce food-crop yields greater than inorganic fertilizers alone on degraded soils, as well as recuperating soil nutrients over a period of years. These agroforestry practices improve the livelihoods of farm families, lower risks associated with fertilizer price increases and drought and at the same time improve biodiversity and nutrient and water cycling in the agro-ecosystem. The World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) has a long history of agroforestry research and development in Malawi dating back to the 1980s. In 2007-2011, ICRAF implemented the Malawi Agroforestry Food Security Project (AFSP) through financial support from Irish Aid. ICRAF’s task in AFSP was to build a strong partnership to reach 200,000 farming families in 11 districts. The purpose of AFSP was to combine tested agroforestry practices, effective partnership and informed policies to increase food security and income, and improve livelihood opportunities for rural communities in Malawi, through accelerated adoption of fertilizer trees, fruit trees, fodder trees and fuel-wood trees. To accomplish these purposes, ICRAF provided the farming communities with planting material (tree seeds and seedlings), and the knowledge of how to care for them and effectively combine them with food crops. The beneficiaries of the project saw increases in household food security and nutrition. However, difficulties were encountered in transporting tree seeds and seedlings across eleven districts in a timely fashion, and in managing the flow of reporting and disbursements of funding among such a large group of collaborators. Several solutions were implemented which improved performance in these areas, and which allowed the group to reach very near the targeted number of participants, and to plan for a second phase of the project.