ABSTRACT
"For numerous political, social, and economic reasons," small farmers in third world countries have no alternative to cultivating environmentally fragile lands, including fields that are steeply sloped. Terry Logan and Leslie Cooperband cite evidence strongly suggesting that adopting agroforestry—"an agricultural technology that incorporates trees into annual and perennial cropping systems"—would greatly reduce the heavy soil erosion that frequently occurs when small farmers colonize hillsides. Much remains to be learned about agroforestry to enhance its economic attraction to hillside farmers and to increase its value as an erosion control measure. Several areas of scientific research and infrastructure development needed to promote the use and effectiveness of agroforestry are identified in this paper.
