This article aims to support TerraFund restoration champions by providing practical, farmer-centered, and context-appropriate guidance on planning and growing trees based on land size and land use types, improving transparency, consistency, and restoration outcomes across the TerraFund portfolio.
The benefits of agroforestry in restoration
Principles of Agroforestry Design
Restoration practices and their spacing threshold
Key to successful agroforestry
Recording agroforestry and other tree planting interventions under TerraFund MRV
More than 70% of TerraFund-supported restoration interventions occur in agroforestry systems, reflecting the central role of integrated tree–crop–livestock systems in Africa’s restoration landscapes. To fulfil TerraFund’s goal of catalyzing successful and farmer-adopted restoration projects across Africa, proper Forest Management Practices must be applied to ensure the growth and sustainability of planted seedlings. Restoration champions must apply appropriate agroforestry design, planting, and management practices to ensure seedling survival, system functionality, and long-term sustainability. Funded projects must adhere to and use the following guidelines to plan and plant trees in the restoration areas.
Understanding agroforestry
A useful short definition of agroforestry is ‘farming with trees. Agroforestry includes both the integration of trees on farmland and the use of agricultural crops and livestock in woodlands. A more detailed definition is that agroforestry is “the practice of deliberately integrating woody vegetation (trees or shrubs) with crop and/or animal systems to benefit from the resulting ecological and economic interactions. (Pagella, T., & Whistance, L. (2019).
Importantly, agroforestry systems are not static tree-planting arrangements, but dynamic land-use systems that evolve over time as trees, crops, and livelihoods change.
Categories of agroforestry
There are three main categories of agroforestry, broken into several practices (listed below):
- Agrosilvicultural Systems: This is the combination of trees with crops. Examples include Taungya, where trees and crops are planted together, and Alley Cropping, where crops are grown in alleys between rows of trees.
- Silvopastoral Systems: This combines trees with livestock and/or pasture. This can involve trees and shrubs planted directly on pastures, or the use of multi-purpose trees that provide fodder for animals.
- Agrosilvopastoral Systems: This is the most complex system, integrating trees, crops, and livestock. A common example is Compound Farming, where all three components are managed together in a farm setting.
- Often, another fourth category is added: Hedgerows, shelterbelts and riparian buffer strips. These are referred to as “linear” forms of agroforestry where trees are grown between parcels of land. (Lawson et al.) In this document, they are listed as practices in table 1.
Source: Agroforestry Handbook, Pagella, T., & Whistance, L. (2019).
The benefits of agroforestry in restoration
- Agroforestry provides an integrated land-use approach to rural land use that helps mitigate the negative environmental impacts of intensive agriculture while also contributing to climate change mitigation.
- Compared to agriculture or forestry practiced in isolation, agroforestry delivers clear environmental advantages, including enhanced biodiversity, reduced surface runoff, greater carbon sequestration, and improved water quality through reduced pollution.
- By creating shade, windbreaks, and more stable microclimates, it builds resilience to climate extremes for both crops and livestock. At the same time,
- Agroforestry maintains and diversifies livelihoods by enabling continued production of food, fodder, fuelwood, and fruits. Because farmers directly benefit from these systems, agroforestry encourages long-term stewardship, leading to greater adoption, protection, and sustainability of restoration efforts.
Principles of Agroforestry Design
Restoration champions should understand the power of a well-designed agroforestry (plan) that works for the community, fits local conditions and with coherent components.
- Farmer-Centeredness: Prioritize farmers’ goals and aspirations.
- Aptness to Place, People, and Purpose: Tailor systems to local conditions and farmer needs.
- Synergy: Ensure components interact to maximize productivity and ecosystem services.
Restoration practices and their spacing threshold
Restoration champions who implement agroforestry use one or several practices depending on restoration site conditions. The following are common agroforestry practices, recommended spacing/density per hectare, and key management notes.
| Agroforestry Practice | Main Objective | Typical Location / Context | Recommended Spacing / Density | Key Management Notes |
| Trees dispersed in cropland | Improve soil fertility, biodiversity, microclimate, carbon sequestration | Annual and perennial crop fields | •Up to 100 trees/ha (10×10 m); 5×20 m rows (~100 trees/ha); •Dry areas: 40–70 trees/ha (12–15 m) |
Prioritize natural regeneration; avoid competitive species; cocoa follows national guidelines |
| Trees on boundaries, roads, windbreaks | Wind reduction, boundary marking, fuelwood, shade | Farm boundaries, roads, homesteads, schools | •Boundaries: 0.75–1 m and thin to 1.5–3 m later; •Roads: 0.5×2.5 m to 4×6 m; •Windbreaks: 1.5×2 m or double rows |
Pollarding recommended; integrate shrubs on windward side |
| Trees on soil conservation structures | Erosion control, slope and terrace stabilization | Contours, terraces, sloping land | •Shrubs: 0.1–0.2 m; •Trees: 0.5–1 m; Terraces: ~1.5×3 m |
Combine with grass on steep slopes; wider spacing in dry areas |
| Trees on fallowed land (improved fallow) | Restore soil fertility and structure | Temporarily abandoned cropland | •Shrubs: 0.5 ×1 m to 2×2 m (trees introduced later) | Use nitrogen-fixing species; protect trees from grazing |
| Alley cropping (silvo-arable) | Integrate trees with crops for productivity and restoration | Crop fields with tree rows | •Small land: 4–8 m rows, 0.25–2 m in-row; •Large land: 30–45 m rows, 4–10 m in-row |
Regular pruning; allow machinery access where relevant |
| Trees on fodder lots | Fodder production and soil restoration | Dedicated fodder plots, when fodder is on contours | •Shrubs: 0.2 m in-row, 0.5 m between rows; •Trees: 0.5 m in-row, 1–2 m between rows |
Wider spacing for browsing or pod production |
| Trees on Rangeland (pasture) | Shade, fodder, erosion control | Grazing lands and savannas |
•Small trees: 10×10 m; •Trees can be planted as shelterbelts, in line to form paddocks |
Protecting young trees from livestock damage |
| Riparian restoration (streams & rivers) or buffer strips | Bank stabilization, water quality, biodiversity | Riverbanks and stream buffers | •Grass near water; •Shrubs: 0.5×1 m to 2×2 m; •Trees: 2.5×2.5 m to max 7×7 m |
Protect existing vegetation; indigenous species only; no chemicals |
| Trees in gullies | Control severe erosion and land degradation | Active and stabilized gullies | Site-specific; no fixed spacing | Combine biological with mechanical measures; fast-growing species preferred |
Key to successful agroforestry
The success of any agroforestry system goes beyond simply mixing components.
It depends on several critical factors:
1.Species Choice: Selecting the right combination of tree, crop, and animal species that are well-suited to the local climatic conditions and soil type.
2.Management: Implementing appropriate management practices to ensure all components thrive without competing for resources.
3.Motivation and incentives: Ensure farmers have clear short and medium-term benefits and motivation to invest in trees planted in their own lands.
Note: Additional management guidance:
- Prioritize farmer-managed natural regeneration (FMNR) where feasible
- Avoid species with excessive water use or aggressive root systems in cropland
- Adjust spacing in dry, degraded, or labour-constrained contexts
- Budget for multi-year management (pruning, protection, thinning), not planting alone
PAMASAL: It is a useful approach when designing/planning agroforestry for communities.
- Purpose: Where do you want to get to?
- Advice: Where will you and the farmer get advice from, to manage the system?
- Measure of success: How will you measure efficiency, effectiveness and impact
- Agroecology: How will you capitalize on agroecology or in other words let nature do some of the work?
- Starting points: Where do you want to start, e.g. pastureland, arable land, or an orchard etc. (depending on site locations, specifications)
- Adaptive management: As things develop and project phases out, what tools will help you but mostly the farmer to carry out adaptive management for the trees?
- Layout: What varieties/species, spatial arrangement and sequencing will be part of your design.
Recording agroforestry and other tree planting interventions under TerraFund MRV
Restoration champions have developed or adopted different ways to record information related to agroforestry in their projects. Others do not have a recording format, or they don’t record it at all.
If a restoration champion does not have a data collection system in place, TerraFund may require that organization to record information in the register below and attach it to their reports.
TerraFund_Tree_Tracking_Template.xlsx
References
Agroforestry_extension_manual_for_kenya.pdf
Agroforestry Principles, DR. Flanklin W. Martin and Scott Sherman
https://www.cifor-icraf.org/pt-br/speaker/athanase-mukuralinda/
Small Holder Agroforestry in Rwanda, A SWOT-AHP Analysis
https://research.bangor.ac.uk/portal/files/24881132/Agroforestry_handbook_6_6_19_full_pdf.pdf
Kate M. Alley Cropping: an agroforestry Practice
Information about Tree Uses and suitability .
World Agroforestry (ICRAF) / Yale University. Agroforestry: A Primer – Principles, Design and Management
-in-Rwanda-A-SWOT-AHP-Analysis.
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