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Forest
Myth-
conceptions? | | |
 AGRICULTURE
 Agriculture good,
forestry bad?
There is basically little difference between
the monoculture practices of farming and forestry.
What difference there is, is in the time scale –
forestry always being longer term.
So arguments that plantation forestry using one species is inherently bad
have to contend with our long and successful history
of growing monoculture food crops.
Forestry is
different from
agriculture?
Forestry and agriculture are both terms
to describe the planned use by people of natural resources
for the production of goods and benefits.
In the case of agriculture, in the widest sense of the term,
the focus is on the husbandry of plants or animals
to provide food and other products,
usually by artificial means.
In the case of forestry, also in the widest sense of the term,
the focus is on using trees and forests to provide goods and services,
including timber, fruits, fibres, wildlife, soil, water etc.
The source may be natural forest, with very little changes made by people.
Or it may be through plantations
that are very similar ecologically to food crops in that they are monocultures.
When agriculturalists cultivate tree crops
such as those used for cocoa or palm-oil,
the two disciplines are very similar.
A very major difference between the two disciplines
is the time it takes to grow a product.
Trees grow much slower than grain!
Forestry and
agriculture are
enemies?
Only if they choose to be!
Forestry and agriculture are sometimes in conflict
as they are competing demands for the same land.
And if food is most important in the livelihoods of the local people,
agriculture will win.
However, it is possible to combine the two.
So-called agroforestry, actually quite an old technique,
enables both types of crops to be grown togetheron the same land.
Forestry should
use the poorest
sites?
Where there is competition,
the most fertile land should go to agriculture,
provided
– and this is a big proviso –
that the whole range of goods and services that forests provide
and which are needed by people
are available from other sources.
Sometimes very fertile sites, will quickly erode way
if used for agriculture, for example,
and therefore the protective function of forests should take priority.
Good land use planning
is the key to ensuring that each site is assigned its best use.
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