To counteract erosion and preserve the watershed as well as promote reforestation, the Philippine government issued a mandate: farmers must find alternatives that restore the watershed or lose their land. Loreca Stauber is no scientist, but she loves Benguet, and a letter from her friend, a scientist living in the Philippines, inspired her with the vision of teaching farmers to reforest the mountains and grow vegetables amongst the trees.
We see mountain farms that are not prone to soil erosion or leaching: cultivated with minimal chemical inputs and tillage that will allow the natural buildup of biomass, organic matter, helpful organisms and fauna. We think of forest ecosystems that may not make millionaires of its farmers for one generation and heavy debtors even before the next.
Rather, we envision forest farm ecosystems that are self-sufficient and self-sustaining. We are working on demonstrating forest ecosystems that can substitute for monocrop vegetable farms that deplete and leach the soil, pollute watersheds and are self-destructing.
Realizing the problem in the Philippines could be solved by reforestation, Loreca emailed Dr. Anthony S. The U of I operates a year-old nursery specializing in growing hardy tree seedlings.
I think we should do something about this. So we began to screen the idea, asking: are there partners? Is it a good idea? When those check boxes lined up, then it was a matter of taking advantage of that opportunity and seeing where it could go.
Together, they and other partners started a program in which U of I students went overseas to teach the people of Benguet how to grow trees, with the goal of moving the land toward agroforestry. They wanted to grow a forest ecosystem trees, shrubs, and ground cover along with annual crops. Kea Woodruff, former U of I Nursery Production and Logistics Associate , now at Harvard University, traveled to the Philippines with an interdisciplinary team of undergraduate and graduate students to look at what agroforestry projects were already working and to conduct a needs assessment.
One woman decided on her own that she was going to practice agroforestry, and people come and view her land as a demonstration site. It has mature bamboo, coffee trees, and mature Benguet pine. It really looks like what you would expect the native forest to look in an area like the Philippines.
Kea said there were also intermediate sites where there are Benguet pines and some coffee with row crops blended in, such as strawberries and squash. Reference: Agpaoa, A. Open access copy available. Manuals and Guides. Restoration and Management Strategies. Seeds, Nurseries and Planting. Acacia farnesiana.
Eucalyptus camaldulensis. Pinus caribaea hondurensis.
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