Although it is known that external chemical inputs are needed to achieve sustained high crop yields, their availability and cost (without subsidies) may be prohibitive for their use in food crop production in many developing countries
In addition continuous use of only high external chemical inputs can result in increased land degradation on poorly buffered upland soils (Pichot et al 1981 Kang and Balasub-ramanian 1990)
In is therefore imperative that alternative integrated soil and nutrient management systems and developed that can maximise incorporation of biological sources and organic material
This will also allow lower use of external nutrient inputs
Thus therenis increasing interest in developing alternative production systems that involve the incorporation of improved herbaceous and woody fallows
The main aim has been to develop sustainable and more productive food crop production systems, using low external chemical inputs, as alternatives to the traditional farming systems
One such system that incorporates the use of woody species is the alley cropping system
This paper will elaborate on the merits of alley cropping in soil productivity maintenance and nutrient recycling on high base status soil