Notes on Agroforestry

Agroforestry - Definitions, Objectives, Potential and Distinction between Agroforestry and Social Forestry

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Concept of Agroforestry:

• Agroforestry is an age-old practice.
• Farmers in warmer regions have a tradition of growing food crops, trees, and animals together.
• Trees and forests are integral to Indian culture.
• Rishis who evolved Hindu philosophy lived in forests in harmony with nature.
• Planting trees was practiced alongside agriculture crops.
• "Krishishukti" by Maharishi Kashyap classified suitable areas for tree planting.
• Traditional foresters and agriculturists focused on monoculture production.
• Recent forest area reduction led to resource scarcity.
• Shortage of wood increased commodity prices.
• Farmers started planting trees on their lands to meet shortages.
• Agroforestry is a collective name for land use systems involving trees, crops, and/or animals.
• Agroforestry combines production of multiple outputs with protection of the production base.
• It emphasizes the use of indigenous trees and shrubs.
• Suitable for low-input conditions and fragile environments.
• Involves sociocultural values more than other land-use systems.
• Structurally and functionally more complex than monoculture.

AGROFORESTRY DEFINITIONS:

• Agroforestry is a relatively new name for old land use practices.
• Different definitions proposed worldwide.
• Accepted as a land use system.
• Bene et al. (1977) defined agroforestry as a sustainable management system.
• King and Chandler (1978): "Agroforestry is a sustainable land management system."
• Nair (1979) defines agroforestry as a land use system that integrates trees, crops, and animals.
• Lundgren and Raintree (1982) define agroforestry as a collective name for land use systems.
• Agroforestry systems have ecological and economical interactions between components.

Objectives of Agroforestry:

• Two essential aims: conserve and improve the site, optimize combined production.
• Three attributes: productivity, sustainability, adoptability.

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Code 09: MAJOR SUBJECT GROUP- FORESTRY/AGROFORESTRY & SILVICULTURE (SYLLABI FOR ICAR’S JRF)

SYLLABI FOR ICAR’S ALL INDIA ENTRANCE EXAMINATION FOR ADMISSION TO MASTER

DEGREE PROGRAMMES AND ICAR-PG SCHOLARSHIP/NTS (PGS)

Code 09: MAJOR SUBJECT GROUP- FORESTRY/AGROFORESTRY & SILVICULTURE
 (Sub-Subjects: 9.1: Forest Production & Utilization 9.2: Silviculture & Agroforestry 9.3: Tree Physiology and Breeding 9.4: Agroforestry, 9.5: Forest NRM/Forest Mgmt. & Utilization 9.6: Plantation Technology 9.7 Wild Life Sc. (Forestry) 9.8 Wood Science)

UNIT-I: Importance of Agriculture/Forestry/Livestock in national economy. Basic principles of crop production. Important rural development programmes in India Elementary principles of economics and agri-extension. Organizational set up of Agricultural Research, education and extension in India. Major diseases and pests of crops. Elements of statistics.

UNIT-II: Forest- importance, types, classification, ecosystem, biotic and abiotic components, ecological succession and climax, nursery and planting technique, social forestry, farm forestry, urban forestry, community forestry, forest management, silvicultural practices, forest mensuration, natural regeneration, man-made plantations, shifting cultivation, taungya, dendrology, hardwoods, softwoods, pulp woods, fuel woods, multipurpose tree species, wasteland management. Agroforestry – importance and land use systems, forest soils, classification and conservation, watershed management, forest genetics and biotechnology and tree improvement, tree seed technology, rangelands, wildlife – importance, abuse, depletion, management, major and minor forest products including medicinal and aromatic plants, forest inventory, aerial photo interpretation and remote sensing, forest depletion and degradation – importance and impact on environment, global warming, role of forests and trees in climate mitigation, tree diseases, wood decay and discolouration, tree pests, integrated pest and disease management, biological and chemical wood preservation, forest conservation, Indian forest policies, Indian forest act, forest engineering, forest economics, joint forest management and tribology.