Agroforestry

Table of Contents

Context: There is an urgent need to increase agroforestry cover in India to address demand for plywood as well as well as achieve ambitious net-zero targets.

Background: Issues with current Agricultural Practices

Monoculture: Majority of farmers indulge in monoculture practices that affect land productivity as well as profitability of farming.
Overuse of fertilizers: Farming practices include large amount of fertilizers that not only increases input cost but also reduces soil productivity.
Pest attacks: Farmers must regularly combat with large number of pest attacks that seek to destroy crops over the area.
Excess water usage: Exploitation of groundwater resources has declined the groundwater table, affecting productivity.

What is agroforestry?

Agroforestry is the collective term given to land-use systems and technologies in which woody plants are used on the same land-management units as agricultural crops and/or animals.
Agroforestry includes both ecological and economical interactions between the different components.
Features of agroforestry:
- Intentional: It is carried out intentionally by combining trees, crops and/or animals, which are managed as a whole unit, rather than as individual elements.
- Interactive: Agroforestry aims to manipulate the biological and physical interactions between the components of the system.
- Integrated: The tree, crop and/or animal components are structurally and functionally combined into a single, integrated management unit so as to balance economic production with resource conservation.
- Intensive: The practice is carried out intensively through annual operations such as cultivation, fertilization and irrigation.

Agroforestry in India

Spread: Currently, agroforestry is practiced on 13.5 million hectares in India. About 65 per cent of the country’s timber and almost half of its fuel wood come from trees grown on farms.
Employment: Agroforestry is currently generating 450 employment-days per hectare per year in India.
Forest cover: The forest cover in India has grown from 21% to 25%. This 4% growth has been contributed by agroforestry in recent years.

Advantages of Agroforestry

Reduces pressure on forests: Agroforestry will perform most of the functions of traditional forests, including fulfilling timber needs. This will reduce pressure on forests.
Recycling of nutrients: Agroforestry will help better manage nutrient cycle of the unit. Waste generated from one component can act as nutrient for another component.
Support biodiversity: Agroforestry supports greater range of biodiversity over conventional systems. This is because of variety in microclimate.
Protect soil: Trees grown on the land will protect top layer of soil, preventing erosion due to water or wind. This will conserve soil nutrients.
Income augmentation: Agroforestry provides opportunity for income augmentation, thereby reducing pressure on farming.
Carbon sinks: Forests act as carbon sinks. Agroforestry will act as artificial forests and can perform carbon storing functions.
Pollution control: Agroforestry helps in reducing dust, particulate matter as well as odour. It improves quality of air, soil and water.

Challenges for Agroforestry

Lack of Knowledge and training: Agroforestry is a specialised field that requires certain amount of knowledge in order to reap benefits.
Long term benefits: Agroforestry will start providing profits on the longer run. In short run, profits may decline due to reduction in cropping area.
Stringent forest laws: Indian forest laws are very stringent that prevents landowner from cutting trees grown on his/her land without multiple permissions.
Food security: Diverting agricultural land from cereal and commercial crops may create a scarcity of food and industrial raw material.
Lack of dedicated agency: Most of the countries, including India, do not have a dedicated agency to promote agroforestry in the country.

National Agroforestry Policy

The policy was announced by the Indian government in 2014 at the World Congress on Agroforestry in New Delhi, becoming the world’s first nation to establish an agroforestry policy.
The policy contains framework to address growth of agricultural livelihoods and minimising climate change by boosting agricultural production.
Goals under the policy:
- Creation of a national nodal body to bring together various agroforestry projects, programmes, and policies of the government.
- Using agroforestry techniques to improve economic situation of small farmers.
- Protection of environment and addressing the growing demand for wood and other agroforestry commodities.
- Expanding India’s forest cover through agroforestry.
- The policy also aims to reduce import of wood and wood products to save foreign exchange.

Related information: Trees Outside Forests in India

It is an initiative to increase tree coverage outside of forest lands in India and will bring together farmers, companies, and private institutions to expand tree coverage in the country.
It is a joint programme of Government of India and the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
Initially, it will be implemented in 7 states of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Haryana, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, and Uttar Pradesh.
The major aim of the initiative is to expand tree coverage by 28 lakh hectares (outside traditional forests) through agroforestry or by integrating trees into farming systems.