Alley cropping: a promising alternative to shifting cultivation in Papua New Guinea

Abstract

In the humid and sub humid tropics, throughout Africa, Asia, South America and Oceania, shifting cultivation is still the main food production system. However, as population numbers increase, pressures to find enough land also increase.  Agriculturalists throughout these regions have been faced with the question of finding suitable systems to produce more  food on a small area. Alley cropping is one system that has been devised and is being tested among other systems. This article briefly outlines the system, and lists some of its attributes. It focuses on where it can be relevant and  possibly adopted in Papua New Guinea, and discusses some practical points in establishing alley cropping.