By FGR Bureau
There is no need to explain the importance of trees in our lives. History shows that the best of Indian cultures originated in the forests. It was believed back then that planting trees were considered as noble acts and that deforestation could have adverse effects on the local climate. But in recent times, due to the pressures from population for increase in demand, there has been a huge gap in supply and demands and our forests are being destroyed to meet these demands. To overcome this demand and help to sustain our forests the concept of Agroforestry was conceptualized and encouraged.“Agroforestry is a dynamic, ecologically based, natural resource management system that, through the integration of trees on farms and in the agricultural landscape, diversifies and sustains production for increased social, economic and environmental benefits for land users at all levels.” (FAO, 2015). Agroforestry is beneficial for smallholder farmers because it can enhance their food supply, income and health.
There are three main types of agroforestry practices:
- Agrisilvicultural systems are a combination of crops and trees, such as alley cropping or home gardens.
- Silvopastoral systems combine forestry and grazing of domesticated animals on pastures, rangelands or on-farm.
- Agrosylvopastoral systems, where three elements, namely trees, animals and crops, can be integrated are illustrated by home gardens involving animals as well as scattered trees on croplands used for grazing after harvests.
Agroforestry is a new term but not a new system. Agroforestry means the practice of agriculture and forestry in the same piece of land. It helps to develop a green economy by promoting sustainable forest management which also benefit small-scale as well as large-scale farmers. Research shows that Agroforestry has economic and environmental benefits that produce more combined output and is more sustainable than forestry or agricultural monocultures. It can have a huge impact in underdeveloped countries where most of the undernourished population resides. Agroforestry systems are multifunctional systems that can provide a wide range of economic, sociocultural, and environmental benefits.
Agroforestry can change the common perception that giving back to nature is always either donation or charity, instead now big Industries can invest the funds into Agroforestry to combat climate change and can also be benefited by it financially. Agroforestry is a form of sustainable investing where we are increasing the production while also giving back to the nature. This can help any cooperation gain on their ESG ratings while also benefiting from the yields.
India is one of the first countries in the world to adopt a policy in agroforestry, in February 2014 at the World Congress on Agroforestry, the National Agroforestry Policy was released which deals with the practice of integrating trees, crops, and livestock on the same plot of land. The policy deals with the current problems faced by finance issues, weak markets, etc. The government also started other initiatives like Green India Mission, Draft National Forest Policy, etc. which focuses on increasing the green cover in the country while also increasing the wood productivity through Agroforestry. There are some challenges faced by the National Agroforestry Policy are that farmers feel that planting trees would seem counterproductive to their main source of income as it could reduce their yield capacity by 40-60%. There is a challenge to educate the farmers and convince them of the benefits of Agroforestry.
The National Agroforestry Policy has pointed India in the right direction but unfavorable legislation must be amended and other regulations regarding agroforestry must be simplified. The government should agroforestry into consideration in all of its policies related to climate change and the management of its natural resources. India also has variability in terms of soil, climate, rainfall, etc., hence location-specific regulations should be made to benefit a particular region. Agroforestry has great economic potential and hence proper studies should be done to quantify these benefits more accurately.
References:
Singh, V. P., Sinha, R. B., Nayak, D., Neufeldt, H., Van Noordwijk, M., & Rizvi, J. (2016). The national agroforestry policy of India: experiential learning in development and delivery phases. In Working Paper 240. World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF).
Ram, Asha & Dev, Inder & Chaturvedi, Om Prakash. (2018). Role of Agroforestry in current scenario. Natural Resource Management Division, ICAR, New Delhi, India
Prasad, K., Kumar Ashwani, Dubey, P., Mishra, C.M. (2002). Significance and Use of Agro forestry system. Lab to Land leaflet No. 10 pp. 50.
Tewari, D.N. (1995). Agro forestry for increased, productivity, sustainability and poverty alleviation. International Book Distributors, Dehradun.
Weblinks:
http://www.fao.org/forestry/agroforestry/80338/en/
https://www.aftaweb.org/about/what-is-agroforestry.html
