Inga alley farming

Inga alley cropping refers to planting agricultural crops between rows of Inga trees. It has been promoted by Mike Hands.

Using the Inga tree for alley cropping has been proposed as an alternative to the ecological destruction of slash and burn cultivation. The technique has been found to increase yields. It is sustainable agriculture as it allows the same plot to be cultivated over and over again thus eliminating the need for burning of the rainforests to get fertile plots.

Inga trees are native to many parts of Central and South America. Inga grows well on the acid soils of the tropical rainforest and former rainforest. They are leguminous and fix nitrogen into a form usable by plants.Mycorrhiza growing within the roots (arbuscular mycorrhiza) was found to take up spare phosphorus, allowing it to be recycled into the soil.

Other benefits of Inga include the fact that it is fast growing with thick leaves which, when left on the ground after pruning, form a thick cover that protects both soil and roots from the sun and heavy rain. It branches out to form a thick canopy so as to cut off light from the weeds below and withstands careful pruning year after year.

The technique was first developed and trialled by tropical ecologist Mike Hands in Costa Rica in the late 1980s and early '90s. Research funding from the EEC allowed him to experiment with species of Inga. Although alley cropping had been widely researched, it was thought that the tough pinnate leaves of the Inga tree would not decompose quickly enough.

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