Sistemas agroforestales como alternativa de uso sustentable de la tierra

Abstract

In Venezuela, there has been a considerable reduction in the forest area, due to the intervention of natural forest reserves, hydrographic basins and agricultural activity. That is why, an agriculture based on environmentally friendly practices must be established, with agroforestry being an alternative for the sustainable use of land, which allows the environmental and productive recovery of degraded areas, as well as the conservation of natural resources, biodiversity and improvement of the quality of life of rural communities.

For Budowski, cited in Petit (2008), agroforestry “is the set of land management techniques that indicates the combination of trees with crops or domestic animals, or the combination of all three. Such a combination can be simultaneous, sequential, maintaining the principle of sustainable performance. In this combination there must be a significant interaction ”.

In this sense, agroforestry systems (SAF) are a real option for land use to respond to the challenges of sustainable development and global warming, therefore, coordinated action is required by the governments of the countries of the tropical zones , so that they definitely incorporate these uses as an option, with the possibility of managing natural resources in a sustainable way. In the same way, it can be pointed out that SAFs are land use systems, where perennial woody species are deliberately used and managed together with agricultural crops and / or animals, in spatial and temporal arrangements, which generates ecological and economic interactions. beneficial for the environment.

On the other hand, the development of agroforestry constitutes a means to cover the need to protect the lands under forest and agricultural cover, as well as the future demand for more land for food production and with it, to reconcile multiple production objectives and long-term conservation (Jiménez, Muschler and Köpsell, 2001). Consequently, SAFs offer a sustainable alternative to increase animal and plant biodiversity, as well as to increase production and productivity levels with less dependence on external inputs. Under this premise, the National Institute for Agricultural Research (INIA) has promoted the development of SAF in the state of Barinas, as an alternative for sustainable land use.