Agroforestry in India and its Potential for Ecosystem Services
India has a long tradition of agroforestry and many different types of indigenous agroforestry systems are found in different parts of the country. Most of these systems are location specific, and information on them is mostly anecdotal. The situation is
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S. K. Dhyani and A. K. Handa
Abstract
India has a long tradition of agroforestry and many different types of indigenous agroforestry systems are found in different parts of the country. Most of these systems are location specific, and information on them is mostly anecdotal. The situation is now changing and a lot of research inputs have been at place since the existence of All India Coordinated Project on Agroforestry and establishment of National Centre for Agroforestry at Jhansi. Many technologies for rehabilitation of degraded lands including salt-affected and eroded lands have been developed and benefits of these technologies are reaching to the stake holders. Some of these issues and ecosystem services rendered through agroforestry systems, which are otherwise not highlighted, are discussed in this chapter. The need of separate agroforestry policy at place has been felt.
Introduction Forests played crucial role in the human evolution. Man learnt the art of domesticating plants and animals after leaving the hunting and gathering habit. Man’s desire to live in co-existence in a community created settled agriculture. Increase in human and live stock population necessitated acquiring more and more land under cultivation to meet the ever increasing demand for food, fodder, vegetables, fuel wood, timber, medicines, etc. Further, demographic pressure has forced man to
S. K. Dhyani (&) A. K. Handa National Research Centre for Agroforestry, Jhansi, 284003, UP, India e-mail: [email protected]@nrcaf.ernet.in
seek unconventional methods of agriculture to utilize land to the maximum extent. Therefore, in the quest of optimizing productivity, the multitier system came into existence. The origin of agroforestry practices in India, i.e., growing trees with food crops, grasses, and other components is believed to have started during Vedic era, though agroforestry as a science evolved in recent years. Agroforestry as is now understood as a science of designing and developing integrated self sustainable land management systems which involve introduction and/or retention of woody components such as trees, shrubs, bamboos, canes, palms along with agricultural crops including pasture/ animals, simultaneously or sequentially on the same unit of land and time, to satisfy the ecological as well as socio-economic needs of the people. However, referring to the recent literature, agroforestry combines agriculture and forestry technologies to create more integrated, diverse,
J. C. Dagar et al. (eds.), Agroforestry Systems in India: Livelihood Security & Ecosystem Services, Advances in Agroforestry 10, DOI: 10.1007/978-81-322-1662-9_11, Springer India 2014
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productive, profitable, healthy, and sustainable land use systems. Some important agroforestry practices include: agrisilviculture, agrihorticulture, silvopasture, alley cropping, etc. According to the Association for Temperate Agroforestry— ‘‘Agroforestry practices are intentional combinations of trees with crops and/or livestock that involve inten
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