Anna Rita Bernadette Cammerino, Giuliana Zita, Angela Libutti, Massimo Monteleone*
STAR*AgroEnergy - Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie, degli Alimenti e dell’Ambiente, Università degli Studi di Foggia, Via Napoli 25, 71100 Foggia *massimo.monteleone@unifg.it
Abstract
Agroforestry is an important feature of European landscapes. Nowadays different threats are progressively eroding these systems, mainly through intensification, on one hand, and abandonment, on the other. The aim of this study was to point out a methodological approach to identify potential agroforestry areas in the Apulia region. The study has been carried out in the frame of a national working group. The applied methodology is a combined and complementary double-approach, taking into account both statistical data from the Italian Agricultural Census and the Biotopes Map (ISPRA, 2013) processed with the support of a Geographic Information System (GIS). According to the two methodological approaches, the potentially suitable agroforestry areas in the Apulia region have been detected. 480.000 hectares is their total surface, corresponding to 25% of the total regional surface. The landscape analysis confirmed these results. Extensive agricultural areas, mostly characterized by complex agricultural patterns, is largely assigned to internal, marginal areas where the process of land abandonment is remarkable. Proper conversion of complex cultivation patterns as well as the conservation and management of extensive semi-natural pastoral systems should be promoted designing a set of specific and long-term strategies.
Keywords: agricultural census, landscape analysis, agroforestry suitability
Parole chiave: censimento dell’Agricoltura, analisi di paesaggio, vocazione agroforestale Introduction
“Agroforestry” has formed traditionally an important feature of European landscapes, but many of these systems have disappeared due to economic and social changes, while the remaining ones are highly vulnerable (Nerlich et al., 2013). Socio-economic conditions, agricultural trends and policies led to a progressive decrease in profitability of these systems impairing their long-term persistence. Two divergent development processes were observed: “intensification” and “abandonment” (Asner et al., 2004). Intensification results in the shifting from traditional farming systems, with very low external inputs, to much higher technical inputs, in parallel with crop specialization and management simplification (Plieninger and Wilbrand 2001). Abandonment comes from a progressive invasion of forest at the expense of marginal agricultural systems in many parts of the world, especially including traditional agroforestry systems (Eldridge et al., 2011), notably in Mediterranean countries.
A recent assessment of the agroforestry surfaces in Europe (den Herder et al., 2015) shows that agroforestry is most practiced in southern Europe, especially in Spain, Portugal, Greece, and Italy. The importance of supporting agroforestry specifically in Europe has been reviewed by Smith et al. (2013), with the conclusion that it is able to yield both productivity and environmental protection through multiple ecosystem services.
An accurate and objective estimate on the actual extent of agroforestry in Europe is critical for the development of supporting policies. The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) recognized that the establishment of agroforestry systems should be encouraged because of their high ecological value.
The aim of this study was to point out a methodological approach to identify potential agroforestry areas in the Apulia region. The study has been carried out in the frame of a national working group. The applied methodology is a combined and complementary double-approach, taking into account both statistical data from the Italian Agricultural Census and the
Biotopes Map (ISPRA, 2013) processed with the support of a Geographic Information System (GIS).
Materials and Methods
The study area is the Apulia region, placed in the south east of Italy, about 20.000 km2 wide. It can be divided into 11
territorial districts according to the Regional Territorial Landscape Plan (PPTR, 2013), (Figure 1). This subdivision takes into account the hydro-geo-morphological, environmental, anthropic and cultural traits of the region.
Considering the wide variability of the agroforestry systems and the difficulty of finding a precise definition with rigorous discriminatory traits, it is necessary to address a characterization that embraces sufficiently wide and diversified evaluation criteria. Two different approaches and databases were applied in order to recognize potential agroforestry areas in the region: Agricultural census survey and the Landscape analysis.
Agricultural census survey. Data of four consecutive agricultural censuses (ISTAT, 1982, 1990, 2000, and 2010) were
processed. The analysis was performed considering the local administrative unit (LAU 2). Specific land use categories or category aggregation were considered in order to characterize the region. In particular, Farm-woods, Pasture, Utilized
Agricultural Area (UAA) and Total Farm Area (TFA). UAA is the sum of the areas corresponding to the following crop
categories: arable land, tree crops, and pasture. TFA is the sum of UAA and Farm-woods. The following four indicators were considered: Farm-wood/UAA, Pasture/UAA, UAA/TFA, with the addition of the Total number of sheep and goats. These indicators were further processed considering: a) the average value of the four censuses; b) the temporal trend in term of slope of their regression line. When the value of the pair (a and b) of each indicator was higher than the average in at least three cases out of the four, the LAU 2 was labelled as a potential agroforestry area.
Landscape analysis. After a review of the main land use/land cover databases available for the Apulia region, the Biotopes
Map (ISPRA, 2013), at a 1:50.000 geographic scale, was the one considered for the analysis. The software ArcGis 10.1 was used to process the data. The biotopes possibly associated with the agroforestry definition were selected and aggregated into three categories: bush, extensive and complex cultivation patterns, tree pasture. Forest and woods, as well as
agricultural lands were not considered in the analysis because not directly associated with agroforestry (i.e. the
combination of the two). A grid of regular mesh (1 km by side) was overlapped to the land use map. The fraction of land covered by all the considered land use classes was determined for every cell. As a whole, five ranges were identified according to a quantile classification (20% of the data in each range). The focal statistic GIS function (with a circular moving window of three cells in radius and a “mean” statistic) was applied thus obtaining the Agroforestry Suitability Map.
Results
According to the two methodological approaches, the potentially suitable agroforestry areas in the Apulia region have been detected. 480.000 hectares is their total surface, corresponding to 25% of the total regional surface (Fig.1). The census survey approach showed that the territorial district with the
highest suitability is “Monti Dauni”, followed by “Gargano” and “Alta Murgia” (Tab. 1). The landscape analysis
confirmed these results. Extensive agricultural areas, mostly characterized by complex agricultural patterns (Tab. 2), is largely assigned to internal, marginal areas where the process of land abandonment is more remarked.
Tab. 2: Potential agroforestry surfaces (as percentage)according to the Biotopes Map.
Tab. 2: Distribuzione territoriale (in percentuale) delle classi di uso potenzialmente agroforestale secondo la Carta della Natura.
Fig. 1: Agroforestry suitability map of the Apulia region. Fig. 1: Mappa della vocazione agroforestale delle regione Puglia
Tab.1: Relevance (as percentage of the total) of the identified agroforestry traits for the considered landscape units in the region.
Tab.1: Incidenza (espressa in percentuale) dei caratteri potenzialmente agroforestry negli ambiti di paesaggio regionali.
Territorial district Farm wood/ UAA Pasture/ UAA UAA/ TFA Sheep and goat (n) Total Monti Dauni 13,09 1,87 11,22 0,94 27,12 Gargano 5,78 5,78 6,93 2,31 20,80 Alta Murgia 8,42 = 5,61 5,61 19,64
Murgia dei trulli 5,61 = 4,21 2,81 12,63
Arco Jonico Tarantino 3,93 1,96 3,93 0,98 10,80
Salento delle Serre 0 0,37 3,71 = 4,08
Tavoliere 1,57 = 0,79 0,79 3,14 Tavoliere Salentino 0,36 = 1,43 = 1,79 Campagna Brindisina = = = = = Ofanto = = = = = Puglia Centrale = = = = = Total 38,76 9,98 37,83 13,43 100,00 Territorial district Complex cultivation patterns
Bush Tree pasture
(%) (%) (%)
Gargano 40,62 59,29 0,08
Tavoliere 53,72 25,51 20,77
Arco Jonico Tarantino 82,52 17,32 0,17
Murgia dei trulli 89,68 7,54 2,78
Alta Murgia 93,06 3,7 3,24
Tavoliere Salentino 93,16 6,84 =
Monti Dauni 93,73 6,27 =
Salento delle Serre 95,91 4,09 =
Ofanto 97,31 2,55 0,14
Puglia centrale 97,63 2,19 0,18
Campagna brindisina 99,00 1,00 =
Conclusions
A combined methodology for the detection of areas potentially suitable to agroforestry was presented. Therefore, different candidate territorial districts in the Apulia region were assessed on this respect. Proper conversion of complex cultivation patterns as well as the conservation and management of extensive semi-natural pastoral systems should be promoted designing a set of specific and long-term strategies. The CAP provides options in supporting the establishment of new agroforestry systems. In this regard, the Rural Development Program has identified (also in the Apulia region) the sub- measure 8.2 to finance activities related to the setting up and maintenance of agroforestry systems. The identified areas should be prioritized for this kind of option.
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