Agroforestry and Community Development

Agroforestry is a collective name for land use systems where woody perennials (trees, shrubs, palms, bamboos, etc.) are deliberately used on the same land or management unit as agricultural crops and/or animals, in some form of spatial arrangement or temporal sequence. 

Such management practices are compatible with the cultural practices of the local population and therefore contribute to the economic well - being of the rural population. This will lead to the realisation of the potential of forestry for community development.

Under the Third National Agriculture Policy (1998 - 2010), more emphasis is being given to agroforestry as a mean to sustainable agricultural production.

In Sarawak, this approach of land management is being promoted to sustain income levels of rural populations, reduce shifting cultivation within the Permanent Forest Estate and restore degraded forests to productive forests.

The concept of Agroforestry has long been practised by the local people traditionally in their own land (titled land or native customary land) on a small scale. Their farming practices are solely for their own subsistence, or to claim rights on a newly cleared land. The Sarawak Government through Forest Department has established viable agroforestry project models since 1987 at the Sabal Forest Reserve. The Sabal Forest Nursery office was upgraded to become an Agroforestry Centre in 1997 to conduct applied research on Agrogorestry and to provide training on Agroforestry activities to the local community.

Consultative Group between Project Planning and the Local Elders at Sabal Agroforestry Centre

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