Agroforestry

Abstract

Written by an agronomic engineer specializing in natural-resource management, this article presents a conceptual overview of agroforestry as a strategy against the agro-environmental deterioration caused by the Green Revolution model in Colombia. The author documents that Colombia has 78 million hectares suitable for forestry but only 51.3 million effectively covered by forest, attributing deforestation mainly to agricultural colonization. The text defines agroforestry as a form of multiple cropping, presents its classification into agrosilvicultural, silvopastoral, and agrosilvopastoral systems, and details its advantages and disadvantages, concluding with examples such as shade-grown coffee and mentioning Law 1021 of 2006, which established the National Forestry Regime.