Farmlands Worldwide Have Significant Tree Cover: Study. Although
agriculture, particularly in the developing world, is often
associated with massive deforestation, scientists from the World
Agroforestry Centre have demonstrated in a study using detailed
satellite imagery, that almost half of all farmed landscapes
worldwide include significant tree cover. Farmers in Tanzania
and Ghana benefit from trade in Allanblackia seeds Photo: World
Agroforestry Centre The findings were announced at the opening
of the 2nd World Congress of Agroforestry, which is being held
in Nairobi, Kenya from August 23-28. The World Agroforestry
Centre is one of 15 centers supported by the Consultative Group
on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). This is the
first study to quantify the extent to which trees are a vital
part of agricultural production in all regions of the world. It
reveals that on more than 1 billion hectares—which make up 46
percent of the world’s farmlands and are home to more than half
a billion people—tree