Review on Agroforestry Systems in China

China is one of the countries with the lowest forest cover on the earth. Thereby Chinese peoplehave been facing the dilemma of much more wood demand and more food consumption for a long time dueto the population growth. Agroforestry as an integrated land-use system is an obvious means of fulfillingmultiple objectives. The advantages and implications of agroforestry are numerous. Its activities have hada long history in China since ancestry residents began to settle and live on cultivated farming. Agroforestrysystems can conveniently be grouped into 5 categories: agroforestry with crops dominating, with forestdominating, with pasture-husbandry dominating, with aquiculture dominating and agroforestry withhomestead and “four-side” management (the productive use of road-sides, river-sides, village-sides andfield sides). Modern agroforestry is based on a biological production principle, from which economicgrowth can be achieved through the processing industry and the marketing system. Thereby a whole ruraleconomy which combines agriculture, industry and trade as a trinity is formed, which can increase outputsper unit area of land, augment general biomass, create employment opportunities, raise total incomes,improve living standard, and promote rural development in these areas.