Definition of Alley Cropping

Alley cropping is an agroforestry practice in which fast-growing trees and shrubs are established in hedgerows on arable cropland and annual food crops cultivated in the alleys between the hedgerows. The hedges are pruned prior to and periodically during cropping cycles to prevent shading of the companion crop, with the prunings applied to the soil as green manure and/or mulch. Hedgerows are allowed to grow freely to cover the land between cropping cycles.

Although the majority of hedgerow species are nitrogen fixing, leguminous species, several non N-fixing species have also shown promise. By continuously retaining fast-growing, particularly nitrogen-fixing woody perennials on croplands, it is hoped that their productivity-restoring attributes (e.g., nutrient cycling, weed suppression, erosion control) would create soil conditions similar to those in the fallow phase of shifting cultivation. Thus, in an alley cropping system, the cropping and fallow phases can take place concurrently on the same land, allowing the farmer to crop the land for an extended period when socioeconomic conditions do not allow adequately long fallow periods for sustaining soil productivity.

Alley cropping upland rice with hedgerows of Inga edulis on an Ultisol at Yurimaguas, Peru (1988-90)
1) Rice 3 weeks old, 8 month Inga hedgerows being pruned	2) Inga mulch being applied among rice rows.
3) 2 month old rice with layer of slowly-decomposing Inga mulch	4) 3 month-old rice and regrowing Inga hedgerows
5) 4-month-old rice and Inga hedgerows

Introduction | Definition | Hedgerow Species I Species Selection Criteria | Soil Organic Matter & Nutrients | System Management | Crop Yields | Soil Conservation | Weed Dynamics | Tree-Crop Competition | References

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Funded by a grant from the Cornell Agroforestry Working Group (CAWG) and the Distance Learning Program of the Cornell International Institute for Food, Agriculture and Development (CIIFAD).