For our second day in the rainforest at Parc Ivoluina, we got a tour and lesson on Agro forestry. We walked all through the park and then out to a close by village. Not only did we get to see all different sorts of fruits and spices (including papaya, pepper, pineapple, banana, coffee, olive, cloves, corossol, cassava, and a whole lot more), we also learned about the strategies being implemented to grow them most efficiently. The most common type of agro forestry we saw was the use of fruit trees to provide shade for lower growing crops that required less sun. In this method there is no loss of growing area and all the plants are able to thrive in the conditions they require. Interestingly, because of Madagascar’s rich variations in climates and soil types, almost every fruit in the world is able to grow successfully somewhere on the island. Just in time for us to make it to the village, a huge rainstorm hit and though it was not long lived, I think about 5 inches of rain came down in 5 minutes. We decided that was our cue to head back for lunch. After lunch we did some hands on learning which you can read all about Lily’s post.
