FAO Staff
THE FAO Regional Forestry Officer for Latin America has been distributing this
instructive set of photographs to Ministers and officials in the countries of
his region.
The photographs show how virgin forest is transformed into a desert by being badly exploited and burned, a tragedy which can be avoided if the forests are properly cut-over and reforested.
FIGURE 1. The virgin forest.
FIGURE 2. Forest badly exploited and burned.
FIGURE 3. Five years later.
FIGURE 4. The final result.
Combining forestry with intermediate agriculture lowers the cost of reforestation considerably, provides additional food and helps to get a better growth. Planting of corn for one or two years followed by a legume (if possible perennial) will probably give good results, as the corn protects the young trees against excessive heat in the dry season and the legume is a good fertilizer. These photographs show only conifers, but this system could probably be also applied to broadleaved species.
FIGURE 5. Plantation of Araucaria angustifolia (Pinho do Paraná) in the State of Minas Geraes, Brazil. Altitude: 1,400 meters. Rainfall: 1,500 millimeters (6 to 7 months' dry season). Araucaria (sown July 1954) and corn (sown for the first time in September 1954). Yield of corn in two years - 1,500 kilograms per hectare. Soil: medium quality. Photograph taken in January 1956.
FIGURE 6. Plantation of Pinus radiata (insignia) in Ecuador. Altitude: 2,350 meters. Rainfall: 450 millimeters (in 3 months). Poor soil. Pinus planted in 1952 (one-year-old seedlings). 3 years' corn. Photograph taken in April 1955.
FIGURE 7. Araucaria angustifolia in the State of São Paulo, Brazil. Altitude: 900 meters. Rainfall: 1,300 millimeters (summer). Soil: medium quality. Araucaria sown in 1954. Legume (Canavalia ensiformis) as green fertilizer. Photograph taken in January 1956.
FIGURE 8. Cunninghamia lanceolata (a species from China) in the State of Minas Geraes Brazil. Altitude: 1,400 meters. Rainfall: 1,500 millimeters (6 to 7 months' dry season). Soil: medium quality. 1953 as one-year-old seedlings planted together with beans; 1954 - corn. Photograph taken in January 1956.
