About this Research Topic
CTL systems in the tropics face increasing resource constraints and are progressively vulnerable to environmental degradation and climate and market shocks. In this Research Topic, we want to identify the multiple win-win situations where forages reduce negative environmental impacts, increase productivity, and resource integrity of smallholder production systems exploring the benefits of a circular systems approach. We also want to assess the biophysical and socio-economic limitations for integrating tropical forages in food systems and identify constraints and opportunities for scaling. Finally, we aim to assess the ecosystem benefits of forage-based production. This contribution explicitly does not address industrial systems.
The scope of this Research Topic includes agricultural production, environmental science, socio-economic considerations, scaling, and adoption, all in the context of tropical forage-based crop-tree-livestock systems. Regionally we focus on the global tropics including Africa, the Americas, and Asia. We welcome contributions related to:
• Adaptation of forages to biotic and abiotic stresses;
• Forage seed supply systems and pathways to adoption and scaling;
• Economic analysis of forage-based crop-livestock-tree systems;
• Integration of tropical forages in smallholder systems;
• Ecosystems services of Tropical Forages.
Keywords: Tropical Forages, Crop-Livestock-Tree Systems, Agricultural Sustainability, Seed supply systems, Ecosystem services, Stress adaptation, Greenhouse Gases, Scaling innovative solutions
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.