Water Quality and Quantity: How Agroforestry Can Help?.

Agroforestry practices have been recognized as a potential solution for degrading ecosystem services. This presentation will describe changes in soil water usage, recharge and storage due to integration of agroforestry into conventional agricultural practices. Scienfic findings from temperate and tropical regions will be used to explain benefits of agroforestry. Studies conducted in the temperate and tropics have shown integration of agroforestry have increased soil water recharge and storage and thus helping reduce degradation of water quality from agricultural landscapes. Other studies have shown enhanced land scape productivity by reducing water stress conditions when agroforestry was integrated. Integration of agroforestry also can provide numerous ecosystem benefits and indirect services in addition to water quality and quantity improvements. Despite water quality and quantity benefits of agroforestry, it also causes some yield reductions as the system matures and close to the crop-tree interface. This emphasizes the importance of selection of site suitable tree species including perennial species with economics value and implementation of additional land management options.