Glitz, Markets and Agroforestry

The worlds oldest land use - agroforestry. I could not attend the World Agroforestry Conference held in Nairobi but sure there was lots said about the importance of agroforestry to food security, poverty alleviation and sustainable land use in developing countries. Hopefully the message is getting out. As agroforestry practitioners we don't do a great job of marketing. We are lost in the zone between agriculture an forestry and get the short end of the stick in both disciplines. Hopefully the list of distinguished speakers and glitz at an event like this helped gain some respect but I'm not optimistic. It takes more then an couple of Noble prize winners and UNEP heads, etc. It takes evidence on the ground. Pedro Sanchez, World Food Prize winner and former head of the World Agroforestry Center wrote a great article on the science and promise of agroforestry. He talked about the promise of agroforestry as a specialized science but says we have a long way to go. He cites success stories such as N-fixing trees as fertilizers in Southern Africa, or the Faidherbia albida tree as a great example of a "miracle tree." That article in Agroforestry Systems came out about 15 years ago.

How far have we come when the lead stories coming out of the conference are about Wangari Maathai complaining about lack of extension services for agroforestry research dissemination, and on Faidherbia albida's benefits? Whats new? With all the good stuff agroforestry can bring to sustainable livelihoods why so little action on the ground? Can we blame it on policy makers (related to all the problems of development) or are we not doing enough to promote agroforestry? I'd say it both but what should we be doing to market agroforestry as a solution? We've been trying for ages. Lots of questions - few answers.