Improving agroforestry in sandy subhumid northwestern Shandong, China

A highly productive sustainable agroforestry system was established on degraded sandy soils in Gaotang County in the northwestern region of Shandong Province. Five pre-existing types of land use were compared. Of these, cropping without forest protection would not be sustainable because of wind erosion, while the benefits from extensive forest stretches are extremely low. Sandy soils in this region could be effectively used by agroforestry systems. The profitability and sustainability of the system depends on proportions and arrangements of trees and crops. The locally developed agroforestry was dramatically improved. In the improved system, tree areas were considerably reduced and intercropping of fruit-tree-crop and crop-crop were increased. The locally developed agroforestry is already ten times more profitable than extensive forest stretches offering minimum shading and root competition, or eight times more than extensive forest stretches offering maximum shading and root competition. Profit from the improved agroforestry is about threefold that of the locally developed agroforestry system. Other sandy regions in China and elsewhere in Asia and Africa could profit from a similar integrated approach, as described here. Copyright (C) 2003 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.