A
\nsurface area of over a hundred thousand hectares of arid land stretches in
\nsouthern Romania, nearby Dabuleni, a locality known as the motherland of sugar
\nmelons. The area is dubbed Romania’s Sahara. It already covers the greater part
\nof Dolj County’s eastern side, while silviculturists and NGOs have been trying
\nreally hard to stop the advance of sands, mainly with the help of acacia plantations.
\nIn the commune of Carcea, close by Craiova’s Internationals Airport, over the
\nsummer, the farming cultivations are ailing. Not to mention the fact that summers
\nin Oltenia are long and hot. <\/p>\n
\n
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However,
\nThe Forest of Tomorrow Foundation has come up with a new idea and performs an
\nexperiment. We have a brown-reddish soil, a semi-clayish structure Marian Mechenici
\nexplains, who is employed by a company that contributes to the setting up of
\nthat experimental plantation. It doesn’t have a satisfactory response in the
\ndry season. It cracks a lot. His teams
\nhave already prepared 1.3 hectares of land that were sown with cereals and
\nvegetables, just like the surrounding fields. What makes this parcel different,
\nthough, is the fact that it was simultaneously planted with fruit-bearing shrubs
\nand trees. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
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Always
\nin search of new solutions for climate fight, the Forest of Tomorrow Foundation
\nhas purposefully financed a research study on the performance of agroforestry
\nsystems. <\/p>\n
\n
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We
\nwant our fight to be as active as possible, against climate change and also in a
\nbid to enlarge Romania’s afforested surface areas, the director of the Forest
\nof Tomorrow Foundation, Mihai Caradaica, explains. Mostly for the plains region,
\nwhere we can find around 6% of Romania’s forests, the benefits of the agroforestry
\nsystems are multiple: the reduction of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere,
\nthe increase of the farming cultivations’ economic potential through the humidity
\nprovided by the trees and the fertilization of the soil, protection for the
\nlivestock there where the agroforestry systems are implemented in farms, Mihai
\nCaradaica also said. <\/p>\n
\n
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But
\nwhat is an agroforestry system? We’ve found that out visiting the site of the Forest
\nof Tomorrow Foundation. The definitions provided by literature are many, yet
\nall of them highlight
\nthe integration of trees and other wood species (in various combinations) in
\nthe farming cultivations, in pastures or in zootechnical activities, in a bid
\nto have extra benefits from the same surface area. The shelterbelts protecting
\ncereal cultivations, or the trees, be they isolated or in groves, that have
\nbeen preserved on livestock grazing land are the handiest examples for Romania,
\nyet the concept is a lot richer when it comes to the applied side. It is, perhaps,
\nthe oldest model of long-lasting land management, dating from the Neolithic
\nperiod, when human being began to cultivate plants under the shelter provided
\nby forests. However, in the 20th century, the agroforestry systems were
\nalmost completely replaced, in the West, by intensive farming: cultivations
\nplanted on uninterrupted areas, using mechanized means and supported chemically
\nin order to cope with pests or to become more productive. Notwithstanding, in the
\nlast forty years the perspective has begun to change. As for the role of the
\nforestry structures integrated in farming cultivations or in animal farming, it
\nhas been better and better understood and implemented.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
According
\nto the European Association for Agroforestry Systems, EURAF, in Europe there
\nare more than 8 million hectares cultivated according to that method. The trees
\nprovide wood for constructions or energy, they also provide edible fruits,
\nshade and food for the livestock. Concurrently, trees stabilize the soil, also
\nbalancing its chemical composition, they offer protection for cultivations
\nagainst the weather or pests, they purify the air and preserve the quality of
\nwaters in a given surface area. Forests or shelterbelts support farming cultivations,
\nrender them more productive and increase their resilience towards climate change.
\nOur research is, we hope, one first step we have taken towards a large-scale development
\nof Romanian agroforestry, according to the specialists working for the Forest
\nof Tomorrow Foundation. The project’s head researcher is Mihai Enescu, a senior
\nlecturer with Bucharest’s University of Agronomical Sciences and Veterinary
\nmedicine: <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Mihai Enescu:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
We have a plot of land we have divided into 20 square-shaped farm
\nparcels with a 24-meter-long leg, where we will plant both common forestry species,
\nsuch as the oak-tree, the ash-tree, the Sycamore maple, the maple-tree, and many
\nothers, but also some that are less used in Romania today. These are mainly xerophyte
\nspecies, resistant to the droughty conditions, indigenous species, such as the
\ndowny oak, or allochthonous species, with origins in other countries, such as
\nthe honey locust or the Siberian elm. We will also plant fruit-bearing shrubs.
\nHere, behind me, we can already see the European red raspberry, densely cultivated.
\nWe will also plant blackberry trees, but also agricultural species, on our farm
\nparcels. There will be parcels with corn and sunflower, with various densities
\nand modern technologies. We will also test other suggestions that have already
\nhad good results in countries located mainly in central and western Europe,
\nthat is farther afield. We shall also come up with irrigated rows, unirrigated
\nrows, fertilized rows, unfertilized rows, so they can respond to more than twenty
\nresearch questions. I place my stakes on fast results, well, not for the very
\nfirst year, but for years two, three and four, as it is a project with a
\nfour-year duration. I’m counting on results that are at least interesting, results
\nwe can’t wait to promote. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The
\neventual aim of the project is the compilation of a good practice guide, or the
\nuse of Romanian farmers and forest workers. A handbook teaching people working
\nin the field how to use agroforestry systems in our country, at once taking the
\nlocal specificity into account, explaining what species goes with what species,
\nwhere, when and how, and what the effects of that are.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Agroforestry and its role in Romania’s farming system<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":104,"featured_media":137309,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44315],"tags":[44449,43283,33787,35149,44448,43850],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-153575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-green-planet","tag-acacia","tag-cultivation","tag-farming","tag-forestry","tag-shelterbelt","tag-species"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n