Examples
of
Living
Fences
Most
resource-poor
food
crop
farmers
do
not
have
sufficient
capital
to
purchase
barbed
wire.
As
an
alternative,
more
and
more
farmers
are
using
a
number
of
different
tree
and
shrub
species
to
establish
dense,
often
thorny,
hedges
to
protect
their
crops.
The
image
on
the
right
from
Mt.
Kilimanjaro,
Tanzania,
shows
a
livestock
enclosure
formed
by
a
living
fence
of
a
thorny
and
unpalatable
Caesalpinia
sp.
Another
alternative
often
used
by
farmers
is
the
combination
of
easy
to
establish
live
fence
posts
and
poisonous
or
unpalatable
species.
The
example
on
the
left
is
from
southwestern
Ethiopia
and
illustrates
the
combination
of
Erythrina
abyssinica
with
Euphorbia
tirucalli.
The
latex
of
E.
tirucalli
is
highly
toxic
and
the
plant
is
generally
avoided
by
livestock.
If
well
established,
these
natural
barriers
can
deter
both
animal
and
human
trespassers
from
entering
into
the
farm.
Many
farmers
also
use
live
fences
as
a
method
of
demarcating
their
farms
(Fortmann,
1985).
Although
agroforestry
may
not
be
appropriate
under
certain
land
tenure
circumstances,
live
fences
can
serve
as
one
method
of
securing
land
ownership
where
the
law
permits.
The
example
on
the
right,
shows
the
use
of
Dracena
usambarensis
to
clearly
demarcate
boundary
lines
in
the
Chagga
homegardens
on
Mt.
Kilimanjaro,
Tanzania.
On
the
left,
another
example
of
Dracena
usambarensis
that
farmers
harvest
periodically
for
export
of
stakes
to
the
ornamental
plants
industry
in
Europe.
Introduction
|
Live
Fence
Posts
|
Examples
of
Live
Fences
I
Products
and
Services
|
Conclusions
|
Literature
Cited
BACK
Comments,
Suggestions,
Feedback:
Stefan
Cherry
sdc8@cornell.edu
or
Erick
Fernandes
ecf3@cornell.edu
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).
