Agroforestry the Silver Bullet for Sustainable Agriculture? A multi-stakeholder analysis of Peru's Agroforestry Policy in fostering sustainable smallholder agriculture in the Amazon.

Abstract: Over three-quarters of the world’s poor live in rural areas and many of them depend on agriculture to earn a living. In a context of climate change, Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use (AFOLU) is addressed as one of the main sources of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. Hence, the sustainability transition in the agricultural sector has become one of the most prominent development areas in the 2030 agenda for Sustainable Development. The Amazonian rainforest is acknowledged as an indispensable source of ecosystem services, threatened by deforestation due to unsustainable land use practices. Peru, together with several developing countries has put its faith in agroforestry systems as a key strategy to foster sustainable agriculture. In the country, the vulnerability of small-scale farmers has forced them to clear forest land in search for fertile grounds. Therefore, the aim of this study is to explore the potentials and challenges of Peru's Agroforestry Policy (PAP) in fostering smallholder sustainable agriculture in the Amazon through a multi-actor case-study at the region of San Martín. The study is based on qualitative and participatory methods which involved more than 50 stakeholders in the Region of San Martin in the Peruvian Amazon. Sustainability is assessed from the holistic and interconnected perspective of the SAFA framework (FAO, 2013). The main findings stress that PAP has fostered more sustainable agricultural practices at the Amazon, however, the challenged remains whether it has the ability to foster and address equal, fair and just conditions for smallholder agroforestry farmers.