Agroforestry is about integrated agricultural systems in which trees play a prominent role. Agroforestry can provide a variety of functions or benefits for farmers and communities. The most easily identifiable are the tree products consumed by humans: fuelwood, timber, poles, fruits, medicines, and resins. A second group of benefits consists of the services provided by trees to other agricultural activities of the farmer: fodder, green manure, shade, soil conservation, and stakes. A third group includes the communitywide or even global benefits from agroforestry systems: biodiversity, watershed protection, carbon sequestration, and microclimate regulation. This brief explores the role that social institutions — specifically property rights and collective action — may play in the development of agroforestry.
Different agroforestry systems require different periods of time to develop and manage. Depending upon what benefits are sought, farmers will adopt varying degrees of joint action or coordination within the landscape. Over longer time periods, property rights increase in importance; over larger areas, collective action becomes more important. The figure shows how different types of agroforestry outputs or activities will demand different levels of property rights or collective action.
