Adoption of multistrata agroforestry systems in the Peruvian Amazon

Kateřina Čalounová

Master's thesis

Abstract:

Deforestation in the Amazon rainforest is one of the biggest environmental threats our planet is facing nowadays. More than one-third of the forest loss is caused by local small-scale farmers and their unsustainable slash-and-burn agriculture. A project aiming to bring change in this regard took place in the area of Pucallpa in the Ucayali region of Peru in between 2007 and 2009. Its aim was to promote and apply agroforestry within the community of local farmers and eventually, this way, cease the deforestation in that area. The focus of this thesis was to evaluate the impact of the project, with a focus on the adoption of agroforestry. The aim of the research was to determine how many farmers continue using agroforestry and what the reasons were for why some have dropped out. It was investigated what factors agroforestry adoption was dependent on in the area and what the farmers’ perception of agroforestry was. First, by visiting the villages where the project took place, it was found that 22% of the participants continue to use agroforestry. Second, by conducting a survey with 41 respondents, the reasons for the dropout from the project were identified. The causes were uncontrolled human-induced fires, a labour shortage, insufficient financial resources, and farmers’ motivation. Agroforestry adoption at the study site is related to the number of workers on the farm, years of experience in agriculture, the cultivation of timber trees, and the motivation of environmental protection to use agroforestry. Farmers’ perception of agroforestry was evaluated as positive; they are aware of its various benefits. The factors that are important for them are shading by the trees, food and construction material production, and environmental impacts such as halting deforestation and maintaining biodiversity.

Keywords

agroforestry, Amazon, multistrata agroforestry systems, rainforest deforestation, Peru

Language used: English

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 24. 4. 2023

Thesis defence

• Date of defence: 31. 5. 2023
• Supervisor: prof. Ing. Bohdan Lojka, Ph.D.
• Reader: Lenka Ehrenbergerová, externi

Czech University of Life Sciences Prague

Faculty of Tropical AgriSciences

Master programme:
Tropical Forestry and Agroforestry