What is the RAN?

Objetivs

To transfer and to make available of agriculturists and producers farmers, necessary the technical elements that they allow to apply the Agroforestry Systems, like agroforestry integrated systems of production.

To serve as Articulador between Institutions of the State, Organizations Farmers, ONG´s, Universities and Institutions deprived, that are developed in the agroforestry scope, of way to combine efforts in the search and improvement of the existing productive alternatives, by means of the use of Agroforestry Systems, and to look for the mechanisms to facilitate and to give this technology of the adapted way more to the objective sector.

Configuration National Agroforestry Network (RAN)

Chile has a total surface near the 75.7 million hectares. Of this one great part it corresponds to areas deprived of vegetation, prairies and scrubs, and lands covered with forest (32,7; 27,1 and 20.7% respectively). Only 0.24% correspond to urban areas, around 5% to agricultural lands, 8.3% to continental waters, snows, glacial and areas nonrecognized, and 5.3% to zones of humedales (INFOR, 2002).

Of this surface, an important amount of ground can destine to productive use that, according to numbers given by the Ministry of Agriculture, near 4.5 million hectares they are in conditions for being arable, of them 1.2 million are of permanent irrigation and 0.6 million possible irrigation. In addition, one is due to consider that the arable dry land presents/displays a regable potential of 0.7 million hectares and, if to this 11.5 million hectares of forest aptitude are added, and 8.5 million cattle aptitude, we are as opposed to a quite extensive productive potential and that must be taken advantage of.

Nevertheless, if it considers that near 46% of the national surface one is with some degree of deterioration and/or fragility, that go of slightly to very eroded (González and Velasco, 1999), is necessary to indicate that great part of the country is in a critical condition that it goes in decline of the productive advantage before exposed.

On the other hand, around 8.2 million hectares they are into the hands of agricultural communities, small proprietors, forest farmers and ethnic communities (Benedetti and Salinas, 1997), of these near 17% they are destined to grounds of cultures, 30% to improved and natural prairies, and a 20% to loggings, or are plantations or operated or not operated natural resource (INE, 2002a). As far as the cattle which they have, approximately 47.1% of the total of heads at national level, that were of 11.3 million according to numbers of I SAW Farming Census of the INE, belong to the economic-productive systems of the small proprietors, plaintiff in permanent form of the existence of the resource prairie. On this segment, the cattle distributes itself in a 40.1% in 20.1%, bovine heads ovines, 18.6% pig, goat 14.7%, 5.8% equinos and 0.7% camelidaes.

The productive habits that historically use the small producers, that is to say, productive schemes with and cattle forest, agricultural objectives in individual form or as complement one of another one according to socioeconómicas necessities and demands, without considering the state in which is the ground and the productive potentiality that they have, are clearly in the wearing down and deterioration of the resource, maintaining suspended them in front of a globalizado scene that demands the application of suitable technologies.

As opposed to this reality, he is urgent to approach the problematic one with efficient technological tools, and a joint of organized actors, who make available of the agriculturists necessary the technical elements that they allow to transform the excluding productive practices that use at the moment, into integrated systems of production through the Agroforestry.

The Network Agroforestry National (RAN), is one of these tools, and the technology associated to the agroforestal area and the agriculturists or farmers are defined as the technical interphase between plaintiffs of integral productive options. This instance in addition, invites to participate to nongovernmental Organizations of the State, Organizations (ONG), deprived Organizations Farmers, Universities and other institutions, that evolve in the silvoagropecuario scope, in the work to facilitate and to give this technology to the objective sector, jointly with the union of efforts in the search and improvement of the existing productive alternatives.