CHAPTER- I

INTRODUCTION

Agroforestry has established itself as one of the most

promising land management system helping in the
expeditious enhancement of productivity per unit area, on
sustainable basis. This applied technology, so far has been
adopted to augment the productivity of the land for
mitigating the tangible as well as the intangible deficits of
the land & environment, reflecting its dual role;
Supporting the socio-economic status of the farmers on
one hand & mitigating the adverse climatic effects of
deforestation to a great extent by increasing the green
cover index on the other. The most positive aspect of this
technology is that it has succeeded in revolutionizing the
mass scale tree plantation.

India is one of the leading country in fruit production.

In the semi arid conditions major fruit crops are guava
(Psidium guajava), Pomegranate (Punica granatum),
jujube (Zizyphus mauritiana), Citrus species & mango
(Magifera indica). Orcharding of fruit crops provides
opportunities of utilizing the land space to its maximum,
particularly during the initial yrs. of establishment (Rajput
et. al., 1986, 1989).

In the present study important fruit crops of the semi

arid conditions were taken & an attempt was made to the
exploit the interspaces by raising arable crops &
introducing the silvi component.

Silvopastoral management is being emphasised to

improve the degraded lands by planting multipurpose fast
growing tree spp. in association with the pasture grasses.
Such systems improve land productivity, prevents soil
erosion, provide grazing/forage to livestock, wood for
domestic energy needs & a healthy environment.

Silvipastoral system of management of degraded

lands is a low input technology (Roy Deb & Pathak 1974,
1983 & Patil & Pathak 1977).

Modelling growth & productivity of the silvo pastoral

systems has been attempted by khan et. al. (1994) to
predict the management options for such lands.

Khan & Pathak (1995) have compared Acacia tortilis,

Albizia amara & Hardwickia binata associated silvo
pastoral systems through systems analysis
methodologies.

To model such systems, decay function in under

storey grass production has been found essential.

Studies about the effect of crown areas on grass

productivity are available but little information is available
on the effect of the tree crown of grass productivity at
different distances from the tree base in a uniformly
spaced plantation. This paper presents the effect of crown
area on grass productivity at different radii circular plots
from the tree.

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 Agri- silviculural system has been identified as the
alternative option to over come the growing deficits of
food grains, dry, green fodders, fuel wood & for
revegetation of degraded & marginal lands (Singh et. al.,
1987).

Since the tree based farming system is gaining

popularity among farmers, it is worthwhile to identify the
most promising & economically viable system. Economic
return is the most important & by far the first criterion
that decides the viability & sustainability of any system.
This is inevitable in agroforestry systems, more so
because of long gestation period and the initial high cost
on establishment (Reddy & Suddha, 1989). Keeping these
issues in view, the present study was carried out to
evaluate the comparative economics of different tree crop
combinations is an agri-silviculure system.

Agri-silvi system which is gaining ground in most

developing countries ensures an intensive utilization of
the land. It provides employment means of subsistence to
land people. This system provides the basic requirements
of fodder, fuel, pulp & green manure for agriculture crops
(Sanchez, 1995). In rainfed areas, it is useful system
because it provides some insurance against the vagaries
of the monsoon. Also the tree cover is vital for ecological
balance & for the economic sustainability of food
production system.

Mulching have been reported to have many positive

effects in rainfed agricultural like assuring slow &

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continuous release of nutrients enhances N availability,
increase P availability, conserve soil moisture, reduces soil
temperature fluctuations, prevent weed seed germination
& decrease soil erosion (Read et. al., 1985; Yamoah et.al.,
1986; Hagger et.al.,1991; Budelman, 1989; Tomar et.al.,
1992).

In India out of about 142 million ha of net sown area,

92 million ha is rainfed (Govt. of India, 1996) with a total
population of 400 million bovines (Singh & Osman, 1995).
Crop grown & cropping practices followed in these areas
entirely depends on rainfall which is often erratic &
unpredictable. The farmers in these areas, are small,
marginal & resource poor. Live stock is the major
subsidiary occupation which helps in importing stability to
their income. The combined forces of population growth
(both human & livestock) & land degradation have
resulted in shortage of green & dry fodder threatening to
destroy meagre available resources. The requirement of
dry & green fodder by 2000 A.D. would be 632.61 &
830.12 million tonnes while the availability is expected to
be 532.61 & 573.50 million tonnes, respectively. Thus,
there is deficiency of 17.3% dry fodder & 31.0% green
fodder (Ministry of Environment & forest, 1993).

Hortipastoral system involves integration of fruit

trees with pasture (grass &/or legume). This system acts
as one of the best & economic alternative system for class
V & VI (Singh, 1996). It can supply the protective food
(fruit) for human being & fodder for animal & thus helps in

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bridging the wide gap between the supply & demand of
fruit & fodder. However, the success of developing
hortipasture land use system depends largely on selection
of fruit plants. The selection depends upon objectives
besides soil & climate. The physiography of the site
determines the management practices.

In U.P. hills, the availability of green & dry fodder is

2.6 & 0.84 million tonnes, respectively as against the
requirement of 5.5 & 2.8 million tonnes per year & thereby
milk production is merely 1-2 litre per day per animal. In
U.P. hills, the area under orchard is 0.16m hectare where
hortipastoral system can be maintained to increase the
forage production of hills. Informations on this aspect is
limited in hills. Keeping these points in view, a field trial
was conducted to study the production potential under
hortipastoral system in hills in farmer’s orchards at the
altitude ranging from 1700 to 1800m from mean sea level.

Agroforestry as an intergrated approach to land use,

has existed in traditional farming communities since the
dawn of the Neolithicera (Raintree, 1990) – Like other
parts of India, agroforestry is also widespread in
Meghalaya which is evinced by the presence of trees on
the farm boundaries &/or scattered in homesteads which
are being retained &/or grown by the farmers governed by
their own perceptions & beliefs about the beneficial
attributes of trees (Chauhan & Dhyani, 1989). In
cherapunjee area of Meghalaya (India), the information on
these agroforestry practices in mostly anecdotal or lacking

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which otherwise, is essential for their further improvement
& extrapolation to other potential sites.

Agroforestry is a good system to improve the land

productivity & microclimate although the scope for
improving the income is restricted to some extent in dry
regions. Nevertheless, the trees can ensure an alternate
source of income when aerable crops fail during bad
years. In Maharashtha state, where large areas are dry,
agroforestry can help to improve the environment while
meeting the basic needs of fodder, fuel, timber & other
products. This state situated in the west-central sector of
the Indian sub-continent, has a total land area of 30.758
million hectares, representing about 10% of the
geographical area of the country. The state covers 7.0%
forest, 11% sown area, 4.0% net irrigated & 6.0%
cultivable irrigated land in the country. (GOM, 1986).

In the absence of adequate grazing lands. It was

uneconomical to cultivate fodder crops on private lands. It
was observed that about 98% of the farmers did not make
any attempt to produce fodder, as they depended on crop
residues & the grass grown in forests & community lands.
Their efforts to grow fodder was directly linked to the
income generated in the form of sale of milk or ready
market for forage. Fodder production was economical,
only if the livestock maintained by farmers were efficient
in production (Hedge, 1991a). In the absence of a well
planned livestock management policy, scarcity of fodder

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was anticipated to continue in Maharashtra state as well
as in the country.

Some differences were observed between household

adopting the agroforestry technology & those not adopting
them. 65% of the farmers had adopted agroforestry. On
average, 0.97 ha of the farm was under mixed inter-
cropping an agroforestry trees species, crotalaria
(Crotalaria grahamiana) & maize (Zea mays), which
represents 13.4% (defined as the a ratio of the area under
agro forestry).
The adopters were youngers than non-adopter &
female headed (15% of households) were younger than
male heads (85% of households surveyed).
The adopters & male heads had more extension
contact relative to the non-adopters & female heads.
Adopters & female heads had more productive labour
force than non-adopters. The female heads had less
education than the male heads. Similar results obtained in
Ghana (Doss & Morris, 2001).
One interesting result, however, is that an average
non-adopters & female farmers scored higher membership
to organizers than adopters & male farmers.
The results also show that there is little difference
between the two groups in their sources of income.
Adopters as a group had more incomes than non-adopters
& male heads had more income sources than the female
heads.
The survey was conducted with the following
objectives:

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1. Survey of agroforestry systems
(components) practiced in Kathua District.
2. To Study the socio- economic status of
agroforestry adopters & Non adopters.

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