Restoration through Agroforestry Systems

1. Agroforestry systems for restoration in Brazil:
reconciling social and ecological functions to upscale
Andrew Miccolis
ICRAF Brazil
COP 25 Madrid
December 12, 2019

2. Acknowledgements

3. Objetives of restoring environmentally sensitive areas –
social and ecological functions (Brazilian Forest Code)
• Maintenance of the original ecosystem structure and functions
• Biodiversity (habitat, migratory corridors, gene flow)
• Soil structure and fertility, nutrient cycling
• Water infiltration/water recharge, erosion control
• Buffer strips
• Social and economic functions (family farming)
Restoration through Agroforestry Systems
• Perform these functions
• can render restoration economically feasible
• Include humans in restoration and conservation
• accelerate natural succession (through management)
• Improve farmer livelihoods and quality of life
Thus, human beings need to be included in restoration and
can contribute to advancing succession of species

4. Appropriate management accelerates succession and
optimizes resources

5. Ok….but…
• Which systems balance trade-offs between social and
environmental functions, between costs and benefits?
• How to balance these trade-offs in practice?

6. Passive methods Active methods
Cost/
ha (R$)
5000
10000
15000
20000
25000
Costs of ecological restoration using different methods
Source: Miccolis et al 2019, in prep

7. Climate Change
– MITIGATION
• High C sequestration potential
• Increases organic soil carbon
• Lower emissions Vs slash and burn
or monocultures with chemical inputs
– ADAPTATION
• Modifies microclimate: protects sensitive crops, windbreak, lower
temp and higher humidity
• Increases resilience (plants and farmers), extends harvest season,
alleviates extreme events (prolonged droughts, floods)
(Tito et al., 2011; Silva et al., 2011; Nunes & Vivan, 2011; Jacobi et al.,
2013; Torres et al., 2014; Fernandes et al., 2014; Marinho, 2014)

8. Carbon sequestration
Source: Mbow. 2012

9. Social and Economic Benefits
• Increases food security and sovereignty
(diversity, quality, independence)
• Reduces risks and vulnerabilities to shocks and stresses
– economic risks of investing
– Market and policy fluctuations
– Pests and disease
– Extreme climate events
• Reduces need for external inputs
• Distributes labor/income throughout the year
(Ayres, 2008; Padovan et al., 2009; Santos, 2010; Barbieri &
Valdivia, 2010; Vivan, 2010; Steenbock et al., 2013; Fonini,
2014; Mendes et al., 2014; Vira et al., 2015)

10. Social and economic benefits
• Working in the shade, quality of life, self-esteem,
well being, leisure, culture
• Strenghtens social cohesion, unity
• Maintenance of agro-biodiversity

11. Environmental and social objectives
of AFS
Objectives
Envirionmental Social and economicSocio-environmental
Benefits
Management

12. Cocoa-based
agroforestry for
restoration in SE
Pará State: simple
vs successional
agroforests
Simple Successional
Cocoa + banana + cassava + native trees in pastures

13. Oil Palm + Agroforestry
“SAFDendê” Project
• Annual crops: 3-4 years (cassava,
maize, short-cycle legumes)
• Fruit trees/cash crops: cacao, açaí
(euterpe oleracea), banana, bacaba
(oneocarpus bacaba), black pepper
• Timber, fertilizer trees
• Intense management, slash-and-
mulch
• Organic/agroecological systems (no
chemical inputs)
• First of its kind
Photos: Andrew Miccolis
Tomé Açu, Pará, Brazil

14. What are key constraints in different links of web?
How do these constraints vary across the landscape/per value web?
Middlemen
Independent
producers
(isolated)
APRAFAMTA /
MRITIPITANGA
Members of
Small
Cooperatives
CAMTA
Registered
CAMTA
suppliers
CAMTA
members
Local Trade
Quatro Bocas
e TA
National and
international
markets
Production
Marketing
processing
Markets
KEY CONSTRAINTS
• Vary greatly from chain to chain, geo location
and farmer types, BUT…
• Overall, great dependence on middlemen
• Greatest constraint for fruit pulps = processing +
• Low level of social organization
• Access to credit (due to high default, procedural
barriers)
• technical assistance/extension for biodiverse AF
MAPPING OIL PALM AGROFORESTRY VALUE CHAINS in NE Pará State
Passionfruit
Acai palm (Euterpe oleracea)
Cassava
Cupuaçu (Theobroma
grandiflorum)
Cocoa
Black pepper
What are the key ingredients of inclusive oil palm agroforestry business model?
Oil palm
Inclusive business model?
• Optimal size of AF + OP for family farmers to
establish/yr?
• Technological package: use of inputs/labor for
other crops?
• How to share risks and benefits?
Oil Palm Agroforestry Value Web in Brazil

15. Photos: Jimi
Amaral
Restoring degraded pasture with oil palm agroforestry, Tomé Açu, Pará, Eastern Amazon

16. Carbon stocks in oil palm Agoroforests vs secondary forests
10-15 yr regrowth 57 ± 4.3 Mg C Ha-1
Conventional Local AFS 60 ± 4.1 Mg C Ha-1
Oil Palm + AFS Treatment 3 (low diversity): 75.9 ± 2.6 Mg C Ha-1
Oil Palm + AFS Treatment 2 (high diversity manual
preparation):
71.5 ± 2.6 Mg C Ha-1
Oil Palm + AFS Treatment 1 (high diversity mechanized
preparation):
70.8 ± 1.3 Mg C Ha-1
= =
Source: Carvalho et al 2014
0.00 10.00 20.00 30.00 40.00 50.00 60.00 70.00 80.00
Oil palm + Agroforestry Treat.1
Oil palm + Agroforestry Treat. 2
Oil pam + Agroforestry Treat. 3
10-15 yr old regrowth
Conventional Local Agroforestry Systems
Mg C Ha-1
Soil Carbon stocks at 0-50 cm (Mg C Ha-1)
Source: Carvalho et al 2014, Agroforestry Systems

17. Thank you! Grato!
a.miccolis@cgiar.org
www.worldagroforestry.org