TY - JOUR

T1 - Scaling up the impact of agroforestry

T2 - Lessons from three sites in Africa and Asia

AU - Franzel, S.

AU - Denning, G. L.

AU - Lillesø, J. P.B.

AU - Mercado, A. R.

PY - 2004

Y1 - 2004

N2 - This paper assesses recent lessons in scaling up agroforestry benefits, drawing on three case studies: fodder shrubs in Kenya, improved tree fallows in Zambia and natural vegetative strips coupled with the Landcare Movement in the Philippines. Currently more than 15 000 farmers use each of these innovations. Based on an examination of the main factors facilitating their spread, 10 key elements of scaling up are presented. The key elements contributing to impact were a farmer-centered research and extension approach, a range of technical options developed by farmers and researchers, the building of local institutional capacity, the sharing of knowledge and information, learning from successes and failures, and strategic partnerships and facilitation. Three other elements are critical for scaling up: marketing, germplasm production and distribution systems, and policy options. But the performance of the three case-study projects on these was, at best, mixed. As different as the strategies for scaling up are in the three case studies, they face similar challenges. Facilitators need to develop exit strategies, find ways to maintain bottom-up approaches in scaling up as innovations spread, assess whether and how successful strategies can be adapted to different sites and countries, examine under which circumstances they should scale up innovations and under which circumstances they should scale up processes, and determine how the costs of scaling up may be reduced.

AB - This paper assesses recent lessons in scaling up agroforestry benefits, drawing on three case studies: fodder shrubs in Kenya, improved tree fallows in Zambia and natural vegetative strips coupled with the Landcare Movement in the Philippines. Currently more than 15 000 farmers use each of these innovations. Based on an examination of the main factors facilitating their spread, 10 key elements of scaling up are presented. The key elements contributing to impact were a farmer-centered research and extension approach, a range of technical options developed by farmers and researchers, the building of local institutional capacity, the sharing of knowledge and information, learning from successes and failures, and strategic partnerships and facilitation. Three other elements are critical for scaling up: marketing, germplasm production and distribution systems, and policy options. But the performance of the three case-study projects on these was, at best, mixed. As different as the strategies for scaling up are in the three case studies, they face similar challenges. Facilitators need to develop exit strategies, find ways to maintain bottom-up approaches in scaling up as innovations spread, assess whether and how successful strategies can be adapted to different sites and countries, examine under which circumstances they should scale up innovations and under which circumstances they should scale up processes, and determine how the costs of scaling up may be reduced.

KW - Extension

KW - Farmer-centered research

KW - Fodder shrubs

KW - Landcare

KW - Natural vegetative strips

KW - Tree fallows

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=3342972194&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1023/B:AGFO.0000029008.71743.2d

DO - 10.1023/B:AGFO.0000029008.71743.2d

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:3342972194

VL - 61-62

SP - 329

EP - 344

JO - Agroforestry Systems

JF - Agroforestry Systems

SN - 0167-4366

IS - 1-3

ER -