1.2 Contact details of resource persons and institutions involved in the assessment and documentation of the Technology

Name of the institution(s) which facilitated the documentation/ evaluation of the Technology (if relevant)

CDE Centre for Development and Environment (CDE Centre for Development and Environment) - Switzerland

1.3 Conditions regarding the use of data documented through WOCAT

When were the data compiled (in the field)?

20/08/2012

The compiler and key resource person(s) accept the conditions regarding the use of data documented through WOCAT:

Yes

2.1 Short description of the Technology

Definition of the Technology:

Agroforestry of an old apple orchard with wheat cropping

2.2 Detailed description of the Technology

Description:

The farmer grows red, yellow and white apples in his orchard of 3.75 ha. Wheat is growing in the slightly pronounced terraces and recently some vines were planted this year. The rain fed orchard lies in the low part of the middle zone and has a slight slope. The absence of control and fence results in broken branches and trampled parts in the plot. The farmer is sharing the property with his four brothers, who inherited the property from their father in 1993 or 1994. The orchard was established during Soviet time in 1988. The government paid for the material and the farmer’s family did the labour. The government paid them for that input by crop yield. In addition to the orchard the farmer sewed wheat between the rows several years ago which adds up to a hectare of wheat crop in total. In the current year (2012), the workload and the yield have been very small. As there was heavy rainfall in spring, the farmer did not see the need to loose soil around the trees. The already old fruit trees gave low yield and, because of a hale storm, apples were destroyed.

Purpose of the Technology: Initially the government planned to manage land and make it more profitable by establishing orchards. Due to that intention the farmer’s family had work, subsistent crop and cash crops. Today the main source of income is the remittances from the sons who work in Russia. The farmer works part time as a taxi driver. The orchard lost its importance of main income.

Establishment / maintenance activities and inputs: At the time of the establishment of the fruit trees, the Soviet government paid for the seedlings and tractor fuel. Labour was done by the farmer, his brothers and their parents. The whole family worked for two years to build the orchard because they only had the possibility to work in the evenings and on weekends. Nowadays it is still a part time job for the farmer. Maintenance activities consist of ploughing, occasional soil loosening around the trees, pruning and harvesting apples and wheat. The wheat is cut by hand, which is very hard work. Because of heavy rainfalls last spring no soil was loosened. There is nobody to protect the orchard from grazing livestock.

Natural / human environment: The orchard lies on a foothill in the middle zone, close to the settlements of the valley. The apples trees are growing in rows on small terraces built by ploughing for years. Down- and upwards there are also orchards growing, all delimited laterally by the riverbed and a road. On one side of the plot a gully is developing rapidly. All of the neighbouring orchards seem to have a lack of maintenance and control. The orchards lying above but not far away from the settlements are accessible by car and tractor.

2.3 Photos of the Technology

2.5 Country/ region/ locations where the Technology has been applied and which are covered by this assessment

2.6 Date of implementation

If precise year is not known, indicate approximate date:

• 10-50 years ago

2.7 Introduction of the Technology

Specify how the Technology was introduced:

• through projects/ external interventions

Comments (type of project, etc.):

in 1988 orchard was established, since 1993 or 1994 the orchard belongs to the farmer and his four brothers

3.1 Main purpose(s) of the Technology

• improve production
• reduce, prevent, restore land degradation

3.2 Current land use type(s) where the Technology is applied

Comments:

Major land use problems (compiler’s opinion): Low soil nutrients and moisture
A lot of bare, compacted and trampled soil which impedes a high infiltration rate
Not sufficiently maintained orchard, incorrectly prouned fruit trees
Deep rill through the middle of the plot

Major land use problems (land users’ perception): Soil is leached out
Fruit trees are old and hence don't give a high yield
Water is only seasonally available
Low infiltration

Livestock is grazing on crop residues

3.3 Further information about land use

Water supply for the land on which the Technology is applied:

• rainfed

Number of growing seasons per year:

• 1

Specify:

Longest growing period in days: 180 Longest growing period from month to month: March to September

3.4 SLM group to which the Technology belongs

• agroforestry

3.5 Spread of the Technology

Specify the spread of the Technology:

• evenly spread over an area

If the Technology is evenly spread over an area, indicate approximate area covered:

• < 0.1 km2 (10 ha)

Comments:

Total area covered by the SLM Technology is 3.75 km2.

Property belongs to five sons

3.6 SLM measures comprising the Technology

Comments:

Type of agronomic measures: mixed cropping / intercropping, contour tillage

3.7 Main types of land degradation addressed by the Technology

Comments:

Main type of degradation addressed: Pc: compaction, Bc: reduction of vegetation cover

Secondary types of degradation addressed: Wg: gully erosion / gullying, Wo: offsite degradation effects, Cn: fertility decline and reduced organic matter content

Main causes of degradation: soil management, crop management (annual, perennial, tree/shrub)

Secondary causes of degradation: overgrazing, Heavy / extreme rainfall (intensity/amounts) (low infiltration rate and heava rainfalls cause rill formation)

4.1 Technical drawing of the Technology

4.2 Technical specifications/ explanations of technical drawing

The rows with the apple trees are not contour lined, reason why the plot counts 11 rows from one and 13 rows from the other side. The fruit trees grow with a distance of 6 metres to each other. Up to 30 trees were in a row, but due to drying or cutting out (shown in the drawing as "no trees") there are currently some 20 to 25 trees per row in average. Wheat is growing between the rows, mechanical plowing built some terrace-like relief as seen in the profile and sequency "A". A rill dominates the orchard where run off is drained.

Location: Chukurak watershed. Muminabad, Khatlon, Tajikistan

Technical knowledge required for field staff / advisors: high

Technical knowledge required for land users: high

Mixed cropping / intercropping
Material/ species: wheat intercropped in an orchard

4.3 General information regarding the calculation of inputs and costs

other/ national currency (specify):

Somoni

Indicate exchange rate from USD to local currency (if relevant): 1 USD =:

4.83

4.4 Establishment activities

	Activity	Type of measure	Timing
1.	Buying, transporting and planting trees (5 TJS and 20 min for plantin per tree)	Vegetative	once, spring, in 1988

4.5 Costs and inputs needed for establishment

	Specify input	Unit	Quantity	Costs per Unit	Total costs per input	% of costs borne by land users
Labour	Buying, transporting and planting tree	person days	50.0	12.422	621.1	100.0
Equipment	Machine use	Days	1.0	16.6	16.6
Plant material	Seedlings	Seedlings	1200.0	1.03516666	1242.2
Total costs for establishment of the Technology					1879.9

Comments:

Duration of establishment phase: 24 month(s)

4.6 Maintenance/ recurrent activities

	Activity	Type of measure	Timing/ frequency
1.	Plowing, 6 hours, 1 person	Agronomic	spring since 1988
2.	Sowing, 3 hours, 1 person	Agronomic	once a year
3.	Cutting wheat manually by, 1 week (7h/day) 6 pers	Agronomic	once a year, autumn
4.	Soil loosening (it was not done in 2012)	Vegetative	once a year, spring
5.	Pruning (it was not done in 2012)	Vegetative	every tree once in 3 years
6.	Harvesting apples (1000)	Vegetative	once a year, autumn

4.7 Costs and inputs needed for maintenance/ recurrent activities (per year)

	Specify input	Unit	Quantity	Costs per Unit	Total costs per input	% of costs borne by land users
Labour	Plowing	Person days	0.75	12.4	9.3	100.0
Labour	Sowing	Person days	0.375	12.4	4.65	100.0
Labour	Cutting wheat manually	Person days	36.75	12.4	455.7	100.0
Labour	Soil loosening	Trees	1000.0	0.1941	194.1	100.0
Equipment	Petrol	liters	40.0	1.1375	45.5	100.0
Equipment	Machine use	Hours	3.0	6.9	20.7	100.0
Plant material	Seeds	Kg	200.0	0.414	82.8	100.0
Other	Pruning	Trees	400.0	0.711	284.4	100.0
Other	Harvesting apples	Apples	1000.0	0.7453	745.3	100.0
Total costs for maintenance of the Technology					1842.45

Comments:

Establishment phase: Seedlings and transport were paid by the government, planting was done by the farmer and his family. Labor (recurrent activity(3))for apple harvesting calculated according to T_TAJ013.

4.8 Most important factors affecting the costs

Describe the most determinate factors affecting the costs:

Labour affects the cost the most, secondly the seedlings (which were subsidised).

5.1 Climate

5.2 Topography

5.3 Soils

If available, attach full soil description or specify the available information, e.g. soil type, soil PH/ acidity, Cation Exchange Capacity, nitrogen, salinity etc.

Soil fertility: Low
Soil drainage/infiltration: Poor
Soil water storage capacity: Low

5.4 Water availability and quality

5.5 Biodiversity

5.6 Characteristics of land users applying the Technology

Indicate other relevant characteristics of the land users:

Land users applying the Technology are mainly common / average land users
Population density: 100-200 persons/km2
Annual population growth: 1% - 2%
Off-farm income specification: The farmer is working mainly as taxi driver
Level of mechanization: Manual labour (ranked 1, sowing, harvesting, soil losening) and mechanised (ranked 2, plowing)

5.7 Average area of land owned or leased by land users applying the Technology

5.8 Land ownership, land use rights, and water use rights

Land ownership:

• individual, titled

Land use rights:

• leased

Water use rights:

• communal (organized)

5.9 Access to services and infrastructure

6.1 On-site impacts the Technology has shown

Socio-economic impacts

Production

Income and costs

Socio-cultural impacts

Ecological impacts

Water cycle/ runoff

Soil

Climate and disaster risk reduction

6.2 Off-site impacts the Technology has shown

6.3 Exposure and sensitivity of the Technology to gradual climate change and climate-related extremes/ disasters (as perceived by land users)

Gradual climate change

Gradual climate change

	Season	Type of climatic change/ extreme	How does the Technology cope with it?
annual temperature		increase	not well

Climate-related extremes (disasters)

Meteorological disasters

	How does the Technology cope with it?
local rainstorm	not well
local windstorm	not known

Climatological disasters

	How does the Technology cope with it?
drought	not well

Hydrological disasters

	How does the Technology cope with it?
general (river) flood	not well

Other climate-related consequences

Other climate-related consequences

	How does the Technology cope with it?
reduced growing period	not well

6.7 Strengths/ advantages/ opportunities of the Technology

Strengths/ advantages/ opportunities in the land user’s view
Increase of productivity of the land by establishing an orchard. How can they be sustained / enhanced? Give more power and knowledge to farmers to raise responsability for the crops.

Strengths/ advantages/ opportunities in the compiler’s or other key resource person’s view
Land management is right if maintenance and technical assistence are warranted. How can they be sustained / enhanced? Support of establishment and recurrent activities is important.

6.8 Weaknesses/ disadvantages/ risks of the Technology and ways of overcoming them

Weaknesses/ disadvantages/ risks in the land user’s view	How can they be overcome?
Old trees.	Plant new ones.

Weaknesses/ disadvantages/ risks in the compiler’s or other key resource person’s view	How can they be overcome?
Orchard is not well maintained (sporadical soil loosening, pruning, control).	Knowledge transfer with e.g. demonstration of well maintained orchards and round tables to share farming experiences.
	Support shoulb not only focus on the establishment phase (by provdiding funds) but also in a long-term providing cultivation knowledge.