1. AGROFORESTRY FOR IMPROVED NUTRITION, HEALTH AND
WELL-BEING OF SMALLHOLDER FARMERS
a missing link in the discussion on global food and nutritional security
Mr Kenichi Shono and Ms Michela Conigliaro
Forestry Department, Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO)
Session: Improving nutrition through agroforestry (11 February 2014)

2. AGROFORESTRY FOR IMPROVED NUTRITION, HEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF SMALLHOLDER FARMERS
a missing link in the discussion on global food and nutritional security
KEY FACTS
FAOSTAT2010 www.fao.org/hunger
• Nearly 870 million people suffer from chronic undernourishment, 827 million of
which are in developing countries.
• By 2050 food production should increase 60% to meet projected demand.
• Food price is globally raising, making poorest people even more food insecure.
• With the exception of North America and Europe, the average world daily fruit
consumption is under the WHO recommended daily intake.
• Millions of people depend on trees to increase the nutritional diversity and
quality of their diets.
• About 2.4 billion people use wood fuel for cooking, mainly in developing
countries.

3. AGROFORESTRY FOR IMPROVED NUTRITION, HEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF SMALLHOLDER FARMERS
a missing link in the discussion on global food and nutritional security
AGROFORESTRY CONTRIBUTION TO FOOD SECURITY
When correctly designed and implemented, agroforestry practices enhance food
security by:
• Supplying direct food
• Providing shade allowing diversification of crops
• Supporting animal production
• Improving soil fertility and crop productivity
• Diversifying and enriching diets
• Providing goods and products that increase incomes and access to food
Agroforestry practices could play a crucial role in help millions of people escape
poverty, hunger and environmental degradation.

4. Particularly in developing countries, agroforestry can thus play a crucial role in
enhancing smallholder farmers’ livelihoods by strengthening the 4 pillars of
food security…
AGROFORESTRY CONTRIBUTION TO FOOD SECURITY
Food availability
Cultivating a wider variety of tree species
makes fruits available year-round, during
the ‘hunger gap’ and allow encountering
the nutritional needs of people
Food accessibility
Economic access to food through income
generated by the production of
agroforestry products
Food system stability
Ecosystem services performed by trees
enhance the resilience of food
production systems, also supporting
staple crop yields
Food use
Providing food for home consumption, as
well as charcoal and woodfuel for proper
processing and cooking of food
…health: medicines for self treatment; more nutritionally balanced diets.
…well-being: easy access to resources; provision of ecosystem services; incomes.
AGROFORESTRY FOR IMPROVED NUTRITION, HEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF SMALLHOLDER FARMERS
a missing link in the discussion on global food and nutritional security

5. The potential of agroforestry to contribute to sustainable development has been
recognized in international policy meetings (UNCCD, UNCBD, UNFCCC) justifying
increasing investments in its development.
...DESPITE THIS...
The many ways in which agroforestry systems contribute to people’s livelihood
are still poorly understood, underestimated, and inadequately reflected in most
national strategies.
The development of agroforestry is often impeded by legal, policy and institutional
arrangements, its environmental benefits are mostly unrewarded, and investment
often discouraged by the long time between adoption and returns.
AGROFORESTRY CONTRIBUTION TO FOOD SECURITY
AGROFORESTRY FOR IMPROVED NUTRITION, HEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF SMALLHOLDER FARMERS
a missing link in the discussion on global food and nutritional security

6. AGROFORESTRY IMPLEMENTATION: MAIN CONSTRAINTS
Concerning contribution to smallholder farmers’ food security and nutrition, the
main challenges for agroforestry include:
INSECURE TENURE:
• Discourages investment and protection
• Lack of clarity leading to conflicts
LACK OF INTERSECTORAL COORDINATION
• Disjointed and duplicated policy actions
• Segregation of agri and forests in land use planning and regulations
INADEQUATE SERVICES FOR SMALLHOLDERS
• Inadequate access to information, technology, finance, market and other resources
THE GENDER GAP
• Women often collect fodder, forest foods and fuelwod
• Gender gaps in access to land, credit, technology, employment, markets
LACK OF DATA, LIMITED USE OF EXISTING KNOWLEDGE
• Lack of data on the role/contributions to food security
• Underutilized traditional knowledge
AGROFORESTRY FOR IMPROVED NUTRITION, HEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF SMALLHOLDER FARMERS
a missing link in the discussion on global food and nutritional security

7. AGROFORESTRY IMPLEMENTATION: OPPORTUNITIES
Actions required to increase the role of agroforestry in supporting food security:
• Promote agroforestry as an investment.
• Increase access to credit, technology, extension services and insurance.
• Agroforestry education and training for smallholder farmers.
• Engage in good governance of rural activities, with no advantage given
to strong stakeholders.
• Promote agroforestry through enabling policies.
• Appraise and reform unfavorable regulations.
• Guarantee land and tree tenure to small farmers.
• Elaborate new agricultural policies that acknowledge the role of trees in
rural development and do not penalize small farmers.
• Organize intersectoral coordination for better policy coherence.
• Strengthen access to markets for tree products.
• Formulate policy based on local small farmers’ needs and rights.
• Promote research on tree domestication.
• Promote assessment of tree resources and benefits provided.
AGROFORESTRY FOR IMPROVED NUTRITION, HEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF SMALLHOLDER FARMERS
a missing link in the discussion on global food and nutritional security

8. FAO’S ROLE IN IMPLEMENTING AGROFORESTRY
FAO supports and promotes adoption and implementation of agroforestry
practices developing policy, legal and institutional conditions that facilitate its
adoption and recognize its contribution to national development.
Agroforestry is promoted through multisectoral approaches and is in the heart of
many FAO initiatives (i.e. watershed management, landscape restoration, waste
water reuse, non wood forest products and enterprises, urban agriculture, etc.)
 POLICY GUIDELINES PROMOTING AGROFORESTRY PRACTICES
 TOOLS AND METHODOLOGIES FOR ASSESSING AGROFORESTRY RESOURCES
 PROJECTS FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF AGROFORESTRY PRACTICES
 KNOWLEDGE SHARING AND AWARENESS RAISING ACTIVITIES
AGROFORESTRY FOR IMPROVED NUTRITION, HEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF SMALLHOLDER FARMERS
a missing link in the discussion on global food and nutritional security

9. POLICY GUIDELINES
Advancing Agroforestry on the Policy Agenda – A guide for decision makers
• A Guide designed for policy makers, adviser and other technocrats to assist
countries to support conditions optimizing agroforestry’s contribution to national
development.
• Result of a multi-institutional collaboration involving specialists from various
disciplines and coordinated by FAO with ICRAF, CATIE and CIRAD.
GUIDELINES:
1. Spread the word. Raise awareness of the benefits.
2. Revise the context. Reform unfavourable regulations
3. Secure the land. Clarify land-use policy goals.
4. Create a new approach. Elaborate new agricultural policies.
5. Organize and synergize. Intersectoral coordination.
6. Provide incentives. Create clear context fro PES.
7. Develop markets. Strenghten farmers’ access to markets.
8. Communicate the know-how. Enhance stakeholder informat.
9. Include the stakeholder. Policy based on local people’s needs.
10. Govern wisely. Engage in good governance of rural activities.
AGROFORESTRY FOR IMPROVED NUTRITION, HEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF SMALLHOLDER FARMERS
a missing link in the discussion on global food and nutritional security

10. TOOLS AND METHODOLOGIES
Trees outside Forests Assessment methodology
• Developed by FAO in collaboration with IRD, ICRAF and CATIE .
• Aimed to provide countries with a user-friendly and accessible methodology to
gather quality and reliable data on the presence and roles of trees outside forest at
local, regional and national level for tree resource planning, managing and monitoring
purposes.
METHODOLOGY:
• remote sensing analysis
• easily accessible free (Google) maps
• can be applied in any site
• requires minimal training and software.
APPLICABILITY:
• It can provide a useful tool to assess the contribution of
tree systems on farmlands, and provide a crucial
background information towards the implementation of
agroforestry practice.
AGROFORESTRY FOR IMPROVED NUTRITION, HEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF SMALLHOLDER FARMERS
a missing link in the discussion on global food and nutritional security

11. AGROFORESTRY FOR IMPROVED NUTRITION, HEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF SMALLHOLDER FARMERS
a missing link in the discussion on global food and nutritional security
RELATED INITIATIVES: AFRICA
The Great Green Wall (GGW) for the Sahara and the Sahel Initiative
• Ambitious programme to fight desertification in around 20 countries through the
regeneration of millions of hectares of drylands including the Sahel.
• A mosaic of sustainable land use practices combining agriculture, agroforestry,
rangelands management, trees and sustainable forest management and landscape
restoration based on:
 Activities that improve ability of a system - human or natural - to absorb,
accommodate or recover from the effects of a shock or a stress.
 Diversified production to reduce economic risks (e.g. crops, agroforestry, pastoralism)
 Safety-nets (e.g. sustainable use of agroforestry systems, rangelands, production, use
and/or sale of wild and agricultural products collected from the landscape)
 Additional employment (off-farm labour, small forest enterprises, women, youth).

12. AGROFORESTRY FOR IMPROVED NUTRITION, HEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF SMALLHOLDER FARMERS
a missing link in the discussion on global food and nutritional security
FIELD PROJECTS: ASIA PACIFIC REGION (1)
Capacity Building, Extension, Demonstration and Support for the Development
of Market-Oriented Agroforestry in Quang Nam Province, Vietnam
• Phase I (2004-2007), Phase II (208-2013)
• Focus on development of market-oriented agroforestry system
• Capacity building for gov’t officials and farmers
• Facilitated issuing of land use certificate by local authorities
• Improved marketing capacity through
o Formation/strengthening of farmers’ cooperatives
o Establishment of village enterprises
o Market research information system
• Improved access to microfinance
• Positive contributions made to the project aim of
reducing poverty in rural areas of Vietnam

13. Technical Assistance for Leasehold Forestry and Livestock Programme
FIELD PROJECTS: ASIA PACIFIC REGION (2)
AGROFORESTRY FOR IMPROVED NUTRITION, HEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF SMALLHOLDER FARMERS
a missing link in the discussion on global food and nutritional security
• Nepalese Government programme supported by IFAD since 1992
• Goal - sustained reduction in poverty of 44,300 poor households
• Impoverished communities allocated leasehold forestry plots (1 ha per family)
• Leasehold plots managed to meet subsistence and income needs
• FAO providing TA with Finnish support, focusing on:
o Rehabilitation of degraded lands with plants
yielding fodder, food, fuelwood and high value NTFPs
o Livestock development
o Capacity building of LFUGs (technical, financial, marketing, etc.)
• Positive contributions to food security and livelihoods while addressing the
rights of poorest and marginalized communities

14. Technical Assistance for Leasehold Forestry and Livestock Programme in Nepal
Forestlands degraded by shifting cultivation Initial planting with “broom grass” Cinnamomum seedlings in community nursery
Agroforestry landscape Goats provided by the project Women collect fodder, fuelwood and water
FIELD PROJECTS: ASIA PACIFIC REGION (2)
AGROFORESTRY FOR IMPROVED NUTRITION, HEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF SMALLHOLDER FARMERS
a missing link in the discussion on global food and nutritional security

15. Testing applicability of Trees outside Forests Assessment methodology to rice
production landscapes in Southeastern Asia
• Project aimed to assess tree contribution to increase economic, environmental and
social sustainability in rice production landscapes.
• Developed under I Phase of the FAO pilot Regional Rice Initiative for Asia (2013).
FIELD PROJECTS: ASIA PACIFIC REGION (3)
OBJECTIVES:
• Test applicability of the methodology to rice production
landscapes and produce a guide
• Raise awareness on trees’ role in rice production landscapes
• Build national capacity to apply the methodology
AGROFORESTRY FOR IMPROVED NUTRITION, HEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF SMALLHOLDER FARMERS
a missing link in the discussion on global food and nutritional security

16. KNOWLEDGE SHARING AND AWARENESS RAISING
1st FAO International Conference on Forests for Food Security and Nutrition
• May 2013, FAO, Rome
• Aimed to increase understanding of the crucial role that forests, trees on farms
and agroforestry systems can play in improving the food security and nutrition
of rural people, especially in developing countries.
• As outcomes, it proposed ways to integrate this knowledge in policy decisions at
the national and international levels.
AGROFORESTRY FOR IMPROVED NUTRITION, HEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF SMALLHOLDER FARMERS
a missing link in the discussion on global food and nutritional security

17. Thank you for your kind attention
Contacts
 Ms Susan Braatz, susan.braatz@fao.org (FAO)
 Ms Michela Conigliaro, michela.conigliaro@fao.org (FAO)
 Mr Kenichi Shono, kenichi.shono@fao.org (FAO)
AGROFORESTRY FOR IMPROVED NUTRITION, HEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF SMALLHOLDER FARMERS
a missing link in the discussion on global food and nutritional security