Oil palm agroforestry: fostering socially inclusive and sustainable production in Brazil

Abstract

In the myriad national and subnational Latin American contexts, oil palm expansion has led to varied and often controversial outcomes (Castiblanco, Etter and Ramirez 2015; Richard and Aide 2017). Evidence is emerging that oil palm adoption can have positive impacts on smallholder livelihoods (e.g., Feintrenie, Chong and Levang 2010), but impacts depend on the relationships between farmers and processors. Key aspects include types of supply arrangement, such as nucleus estates with smallholder outgrowers versus independent farmers, and technical aspects, e.g., prescribed technological packages, minimum area required, minimum supply volumes and technical assistance. Supply arrangements and technical content must be considered in relation to the livelihoods and assets of farmers, and to their productive and marketing capacity. From an environmental perspective, recent studies highlight the positive roles of smallholder farming practices (polyculture, alley cropping) and landscape heterogeneity on provision of ecosystem services (e.g., Azhar et al. 2015; 2017)