Tree crops in the lowland humid tropics—a time of change

Increasing anxiety over the rapid rate of deforestation world-wide, but particularly in the humid tropics, has stimulated interest in new methods of tree-crop management which, in the short term, will undoubtedly improve the economic standing of traditional plantation crops such as oil-palm, rubber, and coconut. In the longer term, the development of more complex agro-forestry systems has much to commend it as a low-input, productive strategy, particularly suited to over-populated areas.