Orange tree full of fruit above flowering coffee in the Dynamic Agroforestry plot in Alto Beni, Bolivia, 2006

Crops we work with

Citrus

Citrus spp.

Oranges and other citrus grown in the middle of a planted forest, with healthier trees and soil that gains organic matter year after year.

Orange plantation in Dynamic Agroforestry, Alto Beni, Bolivia, 2006 · Photo: ECOTOP

Shade trees cut back hard above the orange trees in Alto Beni, Bolivia, 2004, to let light in before flowering

After pruning the Inga trees above the oranges, Alto Beni, Bolivia, 2004 · Photo: ECOTOP

Citrus, grown with nature

Citrus is usually grown as an open orchard: one variety in rows, bare or mown ground between the trees, and often a spray programme against pests and fungi. As the trees age, disease pressure builds up and the soil loses organic matter.

Dynamic Agroforestry puts citrus into a planted forest. Citrus belongs to the middle stratum: timber trees that drop their leaves in the dry season grow above it, and bananas, biomass trees and food crops fill the space below.

Citrus needs light to flower. About three months before flowering, the shade trees around it are cut back hard, so light reaches the crowns and induces flowering. The cut branches stay on the ground as mulch and feed the soil.

30 years

of oranges in Dynamic Agroforestry on one plot in Alto Beni, Bolivia

4 to 10×

more humus than in two neighbouring orange monocultures (2004 soil samples, Alto Beni)

About 2×

more fruit per tree than in neighbouring orange monocultures, with the same sugar content

DAF islands

small clusters of trees, bananas and biomass plants planted into gaps of existing orchards in Ghana

Our approach

How we work with you

A programme built with you, from the first orchard visit to whole farms managed this way, with local people trained to run it.

Assess

Assessment mission

We look at your orchards, soils, tree health and pest pressure, and run an introductory Dynamic Agroforestry workshop.

Design

Tailored programme

Together we design the system for your farm: citrus in the middle stratum with deciduous timber trees above it, or DAF islands planted into the gaps of an existing orchard.

Empower

Local capacity building

We train farm staff and lead farmers in pruning, biomass management and timing the shade around flowering.

Scale

Landscape transformation

We roll the system out block by block, starting with learning and demonstration plots that neighbours can visit.

Monitor

Monitoring & reporting

Optionally, we monitor plots with the DAF Tracker (built with FarmTree) for transparent, comparable data.

From orange monoculture to forest in Alto Beni

In 1989 Joachim Milz, ECOTOP’s founder, planted about one hectare of Valencia oranges as a monoculture on his farm in Sapecho, Alto Beni, Bolivia. Six years later the trees were suffering from fungal disease and mistletoe, and branches were dying back.

In 1996 he sowed tree seeds of every stratum between the rows, together with palms and bananas, and added cocoa and coffee a few years later. The orchard recovered. Compared with neighbouring monocultures it had fewer fruit flies, less fruit drop and a higher yield per tree, with the same sugar content in the fruit, and its soil held four to ten times more humus. Cocoa and coffee grow under the oranges as second crops, and in 2025 the original orange trees, then over 35 years old, were still bearing.

The orange monoculture in Alto Beni, Bolivia, in 1994, before it was converted to Dynamic Agroforestry

The same plot as an orange monoculture before its conversion, Alto Beni, Bolivia, 1994 · Photo: ECOTOP

A citrus orchard in Ghana where DAF islands of trees, bananas and biomass plants grow between the orange trees

DAF islands between the orange trees, Ghana · Photo: ECOTOP

Rehabilitating low-productivity orange orchards in Ghana

In Ghana, ECOTOP works on bitter orange orchards with declining productivity. The trees were not old, but yields had fallen far below their potential. The oranges are grown for Jägermeister, and the work is done with the organic grower Bothapraku and with FiBL.

We used the DAF island approach. Instead of replanting the orchard, small clusters of trees, bananas, cassava and biomass plants such as Tithonia are planted into its gaps. Their pruned branches and leaves cover and feed the soil, so soil fertility came back within a short time and the orange trees now yield more, without ever stopping production.

Farm workers and technical staff are trained in pruning, biomass management and agroforestry design.

The difference

What Dynamic Agroforestry brings to citrus

Soil that builds up

Leaves and pruned branches turn into humus. On the Alto Beni plot the soil holds four to ten times more than in nearby orchards.

Healthier trees

As the system grew, fungal disease and mistletoe disappeared from the Alto Beni orchard, and it has fewer fruit flies than neighbouring monocultures.

Income beyond the fruit

Timber, cocoa, bananas and food crops grow with the citrus, so a weak fruit year does not mean a weak farm year.

No need to replant

DAF islands, small clusters of trees, bananas and biomass plants, bring the system into an existing orchard gap by gap while the citrus keeps producing.

Partners