ABSTRACT
Agroforestry is a land use strategy commonly employed by small farmers to maximize land use intensity and permit the joint production of forestry products and other agricultural or animal products. This chapter focuses on the Communal Afforestation Project in Rwanda where the author has been serving as Social Science Advisor to the AID mission since 1983, under the Joint Career Corps program. The afforestation program advanced by the joint Rwanda-USAID forestry project focuses on the introduction among the rural populace of agroforestry ideas and practices as a fundamental means of promoting reforestation and improving the farming system. The chapter discusses the effort being made by the communal Afforestation Project to introduce agroforestry practices into a several commune area by employing elements of Farming Systems Research/E. The agroforestry component of the project follows an approach which seeks to involve farmers in the identification of constraints to agricultural production and in on-farm attempts to eliminate them or render them less constraining.
