A Review of the Agroforestry Systems of Costa Rica

SUMMARY

This review aims to summarize some of the studies in the agroforestry systems of Costa Rica from the 1970s to date. From the 1970s to the mid 1980s, agroforestry systems were characterized by a dominance of the association of indigenous trees from natural regeneration with coffee, cacao, and pastures. However, in the mid-1980s, a number of trials with native species started in Costa Rica, which identified several promising species for reforestation or agroforestry (i.e., Vochysia ferruginea, V. guatemalensis, Terminalia amazonia, Hyeronima alchorneoides, and others). In the 1990s to date, there has been a diversification in the types of agroforestry systems used, and an increase in research on these systems (i.e., taungya, improved fallows, multipurpose trees in pastures, alley cropping, and home gardens). Current research not only focuses on the benefits of trees to the systems, but it also studies the proper combinations of crops-trees to attain more profitable yields and to avoid risk, and highlights the environmental services provided by the systems.

Key Words:

• Reforestation
• plantation crop combinations
• taungya
• improved fallow
• silvopastoral systems
• multipurpose trees
• alley cropping
• home gardens
• Costa Rica