Agroforestry
 

Agroforestry is receiving long overdue attention as a resource efficient, environmentally positive, and profitable method of farming. Incorporating trees in farming and range management can provide many benefits.

The more continuous production from these systems, and the flexibility of having several options for management make agroforestry systems of immediate and potential value for farmers and ranchers in many parts of California.

Agroforestry means many things to different people. It is often applied to the integration of trees, typically one species grown for timber, with pasture; but it may also include more complex systems that include trees with a variety of crops, both annual and perennial species, and animals.

The definition developed by Lundgren and Raintree (1982) is one of the simplest and most comprehensive, "Agroforestry is a collective name for land-use systems and techniques where trees are deliberately used on the same land management unit as agricultural crops and or/animals, either in the same form of spatial arrangement or temporal sequence. In agro-forestry systems there are both ecological and economic (and cultural: DB) interactions between the different components."

The advantages of agroforestry systems include the potential for increased resource use efficiency both above and below ground, with roots reaching 10-80 meter depths on some trees and canopies reaching 5-70 meter high. Trees can draw upon resources, groundwater, nutrients, etc., that are unavailable to annual plants. Trees are often immune from all but the most severe droughts and can provide emergency fodder for animals when nothing else is available. Adding complexity with trees can also provide many other benefits, including reduction in pest problems, microsite modification to allow plants with diverse climatic requirements to be grown in a small area, and the production of a diverse variety of products for subsistence and sale, including: firewood, biofuel, timber, food, fodder, building material, material for tools, fiber, medicine, etc.

Trees can also provide a number of other benefits, including soil improvement, erosion control, shade, windbreak, groundwater management, erosion control, , habitat for wildlife, and perhaps, selenium harvesting. This wide range of products and purposes combine with the increased resource base to help minimize risk for the farmer. By spreading out cultural and management requirements over the year these systems can also reduce peak work loads and ensure a more stable economy.

These benefits and advantages have become increasingly well known and appreciated in recent years, although J. R. Smith first described them almost sixty years ago (Smith, 1929).

Agro-forestry model was introduce in Pakistan by Dr. GM Khattak and Mr. K.M Siddiqui in the early 80's. It is a notable fact to mention that this model gained success on demonstrative effect rather than the typical forestry/agricultural extension process.

1.Need for agro-forestry;

Pakistani population, having reached 180 million, has huge requirements for forest products. The meager forest resources of Pakistan are unable to meed the demands and therefore, the need of energy plantation arose. It is a notable fact that energy plantations require lands , which is difficult to find in an agricultural country. naturally, there has to be made an reconciliatory arrangement whereby agricultural and forestry practices should be carried out on the same piece of land with out harming each other.

2. Choice of species;

The farmers are interested in early income from their lands and cannot wait for the lengthy maturity periods of trees, therefore they are interested in fast growing species having an economical value. For this, hybrid poplars are used which have low disease frequency, multiple uses at various stages of life and a short growth period (10-12 years)

3.Concerns of farmers;

the farmers are of the opinion that tree plantation on the border of agricultural lands would consume the water from the share of agricultural crops. Moreover, its shade would hamper the requisite sunlight required for
the growth of agricultural crops.

but the perception of farmers has been rejected by modern research which says that the trees on the borders of agricultural fields consume 6-9% of the total water. Moreover, these trees act as a nurse crop to save the agri crops from wind desiccation and extreme sunlight.

4. Benefits of Agro forestry;
a) It yields additional income to the farmers on a short growth period.

b) Provides raw material for match industry, scaffoldings, light furniture and as a fuel wood. It has reduced the pressure on state/ natural forests up to some extent.

c) It has increased the forest cover of KP province from 17 to 22%.