Agroforestry can provide significant economic benefits, through household use or sale of tree products, positive effects on companion crops or animals, and improved environmental conditions. Many development initiatives, however, ignore the regional economic context for agroforestry, in particular the effects of changing product and factor markets on the choice of species and management practices. This paper presents a framework for examining the economics of agroforestry, and illustrates globally important trends with findings from an eight-country study of agroforestry in Central America and the Caribbean.
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