UNHIDE Agroforestry - A Knowledge Exchange Latvia- Sweden 2023-25 - Report - Page 11
Hazels planted on less fertile parts of the land.
seedlings distributed to local farmers. But due to
the lack of experience many seedlings died, and
the local farmers showed moderate interest. At
this point Tor was given the task of better anchoring the benefits of tree planting among farmers.
With Tor’s efforts, the larger nurseries established
were replaced by training of local farmers, educating them how to start “home nurseries” to grow
suitable seedlings themselves, and to guide them
how to effectively use trees as a tool; one tree being good at providing shade, a second to provide
fertilizer, a third to provide pest control, a fourth
to provide firewood, a fifth serving as a fence.
What could not be used as building material
could be useful as compost and turned into soil.
Nitrogen-fixing goat’s-rue (Galega officinalis) sawn under the
hazels. Cultivated as forage, bee plant, and as green manure
to add organic matter to the soil.
INTENDED FOR AGROFORESTRY, WHILE TOR ADVOCATED SILVOPASTORAL
SYSTEMS WITH A DIVERSITY
OF LOCAL SPECIES.
As a former forest inspector, Tor saw a parallel to
the monocultures of spruce planted in Sweden:
“spruce suits the forest industry, increased yield is
the only thing that matters, and that view dominates
both research and education.”
Tor was a successful manager. During his assignment We-agroforestry became an independent
foundation and employed 150 field workers. The
mother nursery in Kitale, Kenya grew and expanded into the “Olof Palme Agroforestry Centre”. The
business spread around Lake Victoria to Uganda,
Tanzania and Rwanda. A collaboration with SIDA
developed, but became the cause of a long controversy in which We-agroforestry fought for its
autonomy. There were other controversies as well.
The Charlottenberg farm includes about 140 hectares of forest that stretch up the mountain. 60 hectares have been converted from spruce monoculture
to mixed and to deciduous forest, interestingly
enough featuring species such as sweet chestnut,
birch, wild cherry, poplar, and ash. “Diversity provides risk management and creates resilient forest
systems,” Tor points out. Also in early days, as a
forest inspector at Södra, Tor was a pioneer,
encouraging landowners not to clear-cut their pastures to plant spruce, but to assist the development
of thriving mixed forests, managed using selective
cutting.
UNDER STATE PRESSURE,
CYPRESS AND EUCALYPTUS
WERE PLANTED AS MONOCULTURES IN THE SYSTEMS
In the farm shop hazelnuts, walnuts, strawberries,
rhubarb, wild garlic, blackberries, cherry dogwoods, pears, peaches, apricots, chokeberry,
quinces, gooseberries, currants of various varieties
etc are sold seasonally.
