# What is Inga alley cropping?

Below is why Savimbo recommends and uses Inga alley cropping. There are more sophisticated systems; however, we recommend this system because it's highly likely to be successful, whereas other systems might not have the same success rate.

They might be better, they might be worse.

It's a pragmatic bird-in-the-hand approach for starting with agroforestry systems. And we do recommend a mindset of experimentation and constant A/B testing of plots on all sites and even on individual farms.

So the standard published Inga plot formulations described here is a good gold standard to start with, and begin testing against. Use [Inga and plot dimensions](/practice-guide/inga-alley-cropping/inga-and-plot-dimensions.md) for spacing and layout details.

{% embed url="<https://youtu.be/krmLO9s6UWw?si=IXP18NvLAk--w6Of>" %}

### Basic characteristics

You'll probably find that if you live in Latin America or the Caribbean, *Inga* also often called *Guamo*, is already used in your zone. It's pretty common to find it among traditional agroforestry cultivation methods when we interviewed Indigenous leaders in Ecuador, Panama, Colombia, and Brazil.

What is different about the alley cropping system we describe here is rigorous academic field testing from multiple sources, and the result on our current practice choices on [planting density and plot dimensions](/practice-guide/inga-alley-cropping/inga-and-plot-dimensions.md), which Inga species to use (*Inga edulis* is the most common), [preparation of seedlings](/practice-guide/inga-alley-cropping/inga-seeds-and-planting.md), mulching and [pruning calendars](/practice-guide/inga-alley-cropping/inga-and-pruning-schedules.md), information about [adjuvant fertilizers](/practice-guide/inga-alley-cropping/inga-and-fertilizer.md) (specifically for recouperating depleted soils), and other factors that make it more successful and predictable in scaling food production, soil remediation, and family food security.

### Related topics

* **Plan the system:** [Inga and plot dimensions](/practice-guide/inga-alley-cropping/inga-and-plot-dimensions.md) and [Inga and pruning schedules](/practice-guide/inga-alley-cropping/inga-and-pruning-schedules.md)
* **Start planting:** [Inga seeds and planting](/practice-guide/inga-alley-cropping/inga-seeds-and-planting.md) and [Inga and fertilizer](/practice-guide/inga-alley-cropping/inga-and-fertilizer.md)
* **Manage the plot:** [Inga and weeding](/practice-guide/inga-alley-cropping/inga-and-weeding.md) and [Inga FAQ](/practice-guide/inga-alley-cropping/inga-faq.md)


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