The cited erosion thresholds, together with the land area
affected by erosion, lead us to make the following land management
recommendations for the agroforestry system of shadegrown
coffee with Inga spp and Musa spp:
1. Coffee should be grown with at least 60–65% of litter layer,
which will limit the impact of erosion to around 13% of the
cultivated area. Therefore, it is advisable to leave plant residue in
place after weeding and pruning operations.
2. Coffee should be grown on slopes with a gradient of less than
30%, in order to reduce erosion to less than 10%. However, an
acceptable level of erosion can be maintained (at around 16%) on
slopes with gradients of 50–70% in a perennial agroforestry
system. Therefore, the slope gradient factor does not signifi-
cantly increase erosion rates in this agroforestry system, which
is important because coffee in Central America is often grown on
slopes that exceed 50%.