Last updated on October 2, 2016
Agroforestry is an innovative approach adopted by the farmers to get maximum output from their lands. Besides using the land for normal agriculture activities like crops and pasture, they also use it for the production of trees for timber and other needs. The same activity can also be done on the forest lands. The experts categorize these plots into two groups:
- Silvorable plots are the ones that have arable intercrops with forestry trees
- Wooded plots that have pasture under the tree canopy are termed as Silvopastoral plots
Why is agroforestry required in India?
The population in the country is increasing rapidly and with this rise, the demand for household wood products, packing material and firewood has also increased. Meeting this demand is not possible by relying just on one source; so, private agroforestry came into the existence. The demand for timber is increasing day by day, but the production has not increased. This has created demand and supply gap. It was 85 million cubic meters in 2008 that is expected to be over 153 million cubic meters by 2020. On the other hand, the supply of the timber by 2020 is projected to be just 60 million cubic meters. This gives the clear picture and need of agroforestry in India.
Further, increased cost of cultivation, reduced interest of people in farming, increased the cost of farming equipment like hydraulic disc harrow in India have forced farmers to look for alternative sources of income. To get more income with less labor intensive tasks, the farmers rely on short-term commercial crops and forestry plantations.
Who has more interest in agroforestry?
This is system is more suitable for the larger farmers with alternate income source except for agriculture. Small farmers, who need an annual return on their crops for livelihood, cannot engage into agroforestry. However, some small farmers are showing interest in agroforestry by mixing their normal crops with trees for a few years.
Environmental benefits of agroforestry
The increment in the development of natural resources: Agroforestry helps in getting more wood and arable production from the same plot which is not possible with the separate production of arable products and trees in different plots. The technique of planting trees and harvesting crops on the same plot results in simulation of reciprocality between two crops. This also helps in better utilization of environmental resources.
Improved control on cultivated areas: The technique helps in reducing the cultivated area of land. By replacing the arable plots, the agroforestry plots ensure increased use of environmental resources.
Antagonize the greenhouse impact: The combined farming of wooden layer and normal crop helps in the constitution of an effective system for carbon sequestration. It sequestrates the enormous amount of carbon and mitigates the danger of greenhouse impacts.
Reduced unemployment: Another benefit of agroforestry is reduced unemployment. The technology gives farmers an alternate income source to generate more timber along with their annual agriculture crops.
India has reached a certain level in food production and now we need to focus on ecology as well as fossil fuels maintenance. Another major requirement is to cater the growing demand of wood caused by rapid increase in the population.
The only solution to this problem is agroforestry that enables farmers to effectively utilize the available land. One can easily implement the system on large barren lands, farm boundaries or another land that is not used for some productive use.
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