FEATURES NEWS THE RISING NEPAL (DAILY)

Agro Forestry System
Boon For Terai Farmers

By Shahab Uddin Khan

THE pressure on land resources has increased many folds in recent years as a result of increasing population and rising demands for food, fuel and fodder. Under such conditions agro forestry seems to be a logical solution to meet the requirements of fast growing population in sustainable manner and also ensure environmental stability and provide economic security. The trees also have potential of utilising the unproductive and/or less productive marginal land; farm bunds and boundaries. They require limited farm operation. Hence tree- crop cultivation is more evergy efficient than annual crops alone. Thus the system of land management with integrated food crops with tree cultivation (Agro forestry) will be more stable and diversified compared to mono-cropping system. Besides reducing soil erosion, it gives combined production of food and energy from the same place of land. It is also within the capacity and reach of the poor farming society. In agro forestry, there are both ecological and economical interactions amongst the different components.

Popularity

In Nepal Terai Populus and Eucalyptus are being raised on an increasing scale as Agro forestry tree crops by the farmers on field bunds within agricultural fields, wasteland etc. The popularity of these species is mainly because of fact that they are fast growing, tolerant to pruning and have small canopy, which casts minimum shade effect. However, agro forestry potential of indigenous fast growing species like, Salix (Baish), Ackocarpus (Badshar) Anthocephalus etc. is yet to be examined. Because of the nature of the Agro forestry trees that required long duration for crop yield and wide spaces between forest trees remain fallow are available, there is an ample scope for cultivation of short duration, spring and summer field crops.

A two-way approach of enhancing the productivity and increasing the area of crops can augment the crop production in the country. Adoption of new production technology with high yielding genotypes would increase the productivity of crop. Another way of increasing the area and productivity of crops is to grow crops under newly emerging agro forestry land uses. Some of the trees species such as Eucalyptus and Populus are most commonly grown in the plain of Terai along field boundaries or in block plantation either or without inter-cropping of arable crops for commercial purposes. A part from arable land, it has been grown as monoculture or in shelterbelt plantation on even in fertile agricultural land/field. Agro forestry- growing of trees and crop together is adopted to achieve sustainable production of food and wood together, while conserving the environment.

A typical agro forestry system through symbiotic, economic and ecological integration between the woody and arable components helps to increase, sustain and diversify the total net land out put. According to an estimate, agro forestry can increase the gross net production of our country by about Rs. 900 Crores, provide employment to 25 Lakh people and if seriously practise for 15 years, can banish poverty forever.

The main benefits of agro forestry under Nepal Terai conditions are: reduction of pressure on protective and productive forest for meeting the local demands and rational use of lands according to its capabilities, increase in production of agricultural crops from area not presently used for arable agriculture and increase in production of fuel wood and small timber from non-forest area and major benefit of this would be the release of cow dung for manure and reasonable fuel price. Besides, agro-forestry can supply wood and other tree products for industries and pastures and fodder trees for the locals. Similarly, it can help generate additional employment to rural communities, suitable design of agro forestry can be devised for landscaping and beautification of countryside to provide suitable recreation facilities and environmental conservation.

With the increasing realisation of the importance of agro forestry as a sustainable land use system, there is a growing enthusiasm among foresters to learn about agricultural species and their cultivation practices, and similarly among agriculturists to know about forestry system.

The appropriate agro forestry system for Nepal Tarai will depend on the physical economic and social considerations. There are two essential and related aims. First, the system should conserve and improve the site and secondly it should optimise the combined production of tree crops including fruit and agricultural crops.

Among the suitable system for Nepal Terai areas one is Agri-silviculture system. The system emphasises raising of trees and cultivation of food crops and/or fodder crops in the available space between the trees. Thus, with this system farmers obtains wood, food and fodder from his limited resources. Multipurpose tree species, such as Prosopis cineraria, Albizia labbek are grown for fodder. The pod of Prosopis cineraria are also used for edible fruits and vegetable.

Silvi-Pastoral System: Terai farmers who are engaged in raising milch animals or livestock as an integral part of their farming system, can very well benefit, if they follow silvi-pastoral system. Under this system trees are grown on the limited land for wood production and grasses are raised in the vacant space left in between trees for rearing domesticate farm animals.

The third is Agri-Silvi-Pastoral System: This system is often called three in one in which a Terai farmer gets all his three requirements viz., wood, field crops and grasses. Under this system farmers grow field crops and forest trees together upto a particular stage but in a later stage grasses are raised in place of field crops between the vacant spaces of forest trees.

Another is multipurpose forest trees production system: All rainfed land are not suitable for arable cropping. Recognition of this fact has led to the multipurpose tree production system. In this the land is not put to grow field crops or fodder crops but is exclusively utilised for planting various trees, which provide wood, leaves, fruits, pods, fodder etc. The tree species found suitable in Terai land under this system are Acacia albida, Acacia aneura, Acacia catechu, Acacia nilotica, Albiziz labbek, Butea monosperma, dalbergia sissoo, Emblica officinalis, Prosopis juliflora etc.

The next is agro-horticultural system: This one form of agro forestry adopted in arable lands having fruit trees as tree component. Thus the system provides higher income per unit area. In Terai lands guava, custard, ber, phalsa, jamun and bael can be raised.

Silvi-Horticultural System is unique and location specific since the forest trees of different types are primarily raised on the farm and in the available inter space the fruit trees are grown. The fruit grower, therefore, gets raw material, for packing purpose also which is the additional advantages of this system.

Need

Now there is the need of the selection of genotypes of pulses or cereals, which can tolerate the shade condition and can perform better under tree. In view of adove considerations the task is difficult and a little information is available on the crops genotype during spring/summer season in agro forestry system. Therefore it is important to workout the "yield compensation in various crops through seed rate and row spacing adjustment under agro forestry with the objectives of: assessing the relative performance of deferent crops genotypes under mixed agro forestry system, studying the mechanism of yield losses under sub-optimal growth condition in agro forestry and its compensation through agronomic manipulation and finding out optimum seed rate and spacing in different crops under agro forestry along with different tree species selection.

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