Families are the backbone of rural community life and when they see the value of agroforestry solutions, they make them happen. The World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) has always overtly focused its research activities on benefiting small holders, by developing technological options they can easily implement as individuals or in groups. Options such as fertilizer trees, the domestication of indigenous fruit trees, medicinal trees, live fences and woodlots for timber and fuel are all technologies that can be readily adopted at the household level.

Agroforestry can only provide benefits at the community and environmental levels if individual families see these options as beneficial and are prepared to implement them.

The great advantage of agroforestry solutions is that they cost very little. Most of the on-farm benefits from the use of agroforestry technologies can be obtained from other sources – mineral fertilizers, dairy meal, exotic fruits or packaged medicines for instance. But agroforestry solutions require minimal cash outlay, and are therefore highly appropriate development options for poor people.

Research at the household level is important not only to refine actual technologies – but to assess their social implications. In particular, research is needed to ensure that agroforestrybased solutions are not biased against women. In fact, women can often be major beneficiaries of agroforestry options – as shown by the examples of fertilizer trees and low-cost fruit processing in this section.

At the household level agroforestry-based solutions can have a large impact on the most vulnerable families. In Africa the scourge of HIV/AIDS has had particularly severe impacts on such families through the loss of the most productive adult family members. Agroforestry offers hope because it has lower labour requirements than annual cropping, and because of the nutritional and medicinal benefits of fruit and tree products. Agroforestry also has the ability to create long-term assets that families can rely upon during times of great need.

The uptake of agroforesty starts at the household level, and these two stories from southern Africa show how the simplicity of the technologies and their immensely practical impacts on families are inspiring rapid adoption by other families across whole nations.