Excertpts from Agroforestry - a viable alternative for social, economic and ecological sustainability

1. Nursery practices: Several important practices like standard size of seedbed (010m X1m), proportion of sand, soil and farmyard manure for seed bed preparation (1:1:1), depth of seed sowing (medium depth), height of the seed bed for producing seedlings in poly bags (30 cm), age of seedlings for transplanting, time of seed sowing, periodicity of watering the seed bed, chemical used to break dormancy, fertilizer application and weeding the seed bed are better adopted by farmers. Reasons for poor adoption of practices like inoculation with biofertilizers, seed treatment and recommended quantity of fertilizer application is due to lack of complete knowledge and cost involved and their non-availability.
2. Pre-planting practices: Practices like required size of pit of planting, proportion of soil and farm yard manure to fill the pit were adopted by majority of the farmers since all these practices are simple and were guided by field functionaries while they fail to adopt recommended number of seedlings per unit area (not more then 5% of the total area) in the farmland due to lack of knowledge on recommended spacing.
3. Planting Practices: Majority of the farmers have adopted important technologies like planting of seedlings, water dripping near beds after planting, root trimming for better establishment of seedlings, fertilizer application and control of pests/diseases. The reason must be that all these practices are simple, easy to practice and most of the activities were carried out under the supervision of the extension personnel. Some of the complex technologies like dosage of recommended fertilizer application, dosage of chemicals to be used for pest and disease management and removing bottom leaves while planting were not adopted due to lack of knowledge and also field personnel failed to provide right guidance. Pit method of planting was followed by majority of farmers as it was found good for better establishment of seedlings. Pot irrigation was practiced after planting. Among different water harvesting techniques adopted for irrigation, `V' notch method was practiced by majority of farmers as this method is a most efficient in water harvesting and save water without any loss.
4. The findings revealed that majority of farmers adopted agriculture cum silviculture cum horticulture system of agroforestry. (Fig. 5)The Karnataka farmers incorporated forest trees such as Tectona grandis, Acacia nilotica, Grevillea robusta, Eucalyptus hybrid, Acacial auriculiformis, Azadirachta indica, Melia dubia, Cassia siamea, Pngamila pinnata, Causuarina equisetifolia, Denrocalamus strictus, Dalbergia catefolia, Pterocarpus marsupune , Albizia lebbek and fodder green manure crops like Sesbania grandiflora, Erythrina indica, Glyricidia maculata, Leucaena leuococephala, Ceiba pentandra and fruit crops like Mangifera indica, Anacardium oxidentale, Zoziphus marutiana, Tamarindus indica and Emlica officinalis. As the nearby forests are declared as reserve forests, farmers started facing acute timber and fuel problems. Therefore majority of the farmers adopted the tree species mainly with a reason to meet their fuel and poles logs demand. Also, majority of the farmers were deprived of irrigation facilities, they opted mixed plantation thinking that such ventures will bring more returns. The agroforestry are unique in Kerala because they are always around the farmers house and hence it is often called as homestead agroforestry. The major crops associated with in the homestead agroforestry system in Kerala are coconut (100%), Banana (99%) vegetables (98%) , Mango (95%), Papaya (90%) Tulasi (85%), Pepper (83%), Glyricidia (83%), Arecanut (79%), Jack (76%), Tamarind (75%), etc. Coconut (Cocos nucifera) with synonym `Kalpavriksha', the tree of heaven is the most dominant plantation crop prevalent in homestead of Kerala. It is popularly known as a benevolent provider of all basic needs. In addition to coconut, perennial plants such as arecanut, mango, jack, pepper, (trailed on any of the trees), tamarind and annuals like banana, solanaceous vegetables, bhendi, amaranthus, tapioca, colocasia, dioscorea, amorphophalllus, ginger, turmeric etc, are grown. All these crops are grown mixed in the coconut garden without any specific row arrangement. Farmers have taken every effort to utilize the both in horizontal and vertical dimensions. Thus, these homesteads consists of multitude of crops representing a multi-tier canopy configuration which ensures a high level of exploitation of environmental resources. The canopy architecture and pattern of component interaction ensure better energy harvesting and soil exploitation. Homesteads of Kerala, who have sacred grooves are integral part of life, culture and folklore traditions of culture. Some kind of divinity is attached to these mini genetic pool, which directly promote the conservation and sustainable utilization of these natural eco-systems. The study also revealed that the range of crop species is low in case of farmers with less area and the range increases with an increase in area. The tendency of agroforestry farmer to incorporate various species in his farm increased as the area increased so as to ensure high level of exploration of environmental resources.
   
5. Economics of agroforestry
   It is found that farmers were earning at an average of $ 800 or Rs. 31466.20 / every year from one acre of agroforestry plot which is much profitable than any traditional crop. The farmers were also able to save surplus money in the bank, which is a healthy sign of economic sustainability.
   

http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/ARTICLE/WFC/XII/0051-B5.HTM