Food security, agroforestry, and sustainable development goals

Abstract

This chapter examines the role of agroforestry systems (AFS) in fulfilling the demands and expectations of food security and the related United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These issues are particularly focused on developing countries, where the predominance of small farms is a distinguishing feature. The definition of a small farm is variable depending on the country, but agroforestry is a common practice - indeed a way of life - for most of the smallholder farmers in developing nations. A consensus is now emerging that multifunctional agriculture that increases food production while simultaneously enhancing social and environmental goals, as committed to in the SDGs, is important not only for smallholders but the entire farming community. Consequently, the push for moving away from the narrow focus on yield toward diversified agriculture that respects and enhances broader societal and environmental goals is gathering momentum. Agroforestry has all the attributes of such a highly multifunctional land-use alternative. Food security has been a cornerstone of agroforestry right from the early days of its development. The lack of a quantifiable measure or index is a major difficulty in evaluating the impact of any land-use system or activity on food security. The major under-appreciated direct roles of agroforestry in ensuring food security include food-producing trees and nutritional security provided by diverse components and products of AFS. Diversification and rehabilitation of degraded farmland with species producing highly nutritious and marketable traditional foods will improve food production by conventional staple food crops and create new local business opportunities and enhance social well-being. Agroforestry thus offers an enormous opportunity for augmenting food security, but it needs new investments in research, besides institutional and policy changes.