Basic Concept of Agroforestry and Social forestry

Agroforestry is any sustainable land-use system that maintains or increases total yields by combining food crops (annuals) with tree crops (perennials) and/or livestock on the same unit of land, either alternately or at the same time, using management practices that suit the social and cultural characteristics of the local people and the economic and ecological conditions of the area. It combines-

 

1. Production of multiple outputs with protection of the resource base.

2. Places emphasis on the use of multiple indigenous trees and shrubs.

3. Particularly suitable for low-input conditions and fragile environments.

4. It involves the interplay of socio-cultural values more than in most other land-use systems, and

5. It is structurally and functionally more complex than monoculture.

 

 

Social forestry means the management and protection of forests and afforestation on barren lands with the purpose of helping in the environmental, social and rural development.

 

The term, social forestry, was first used in India in 1976 by The National Commission on Agriculture, Government of India.

 

It also aims at raising plantations by the common man so as to meet the growing demand for timber, fuel wood, fodder etc., and thereby reducing pressure on traditional forest areas. This concept of village forests to meet the needs of rural people is not new. It has existed through the centuries all over the country, but it is now being given a new name.

In India, it has five objectives-

 

1. Fuel wood supply, so as to replace cow-dung as a source of energy (conventional energy).

2. Small timber supply.

3. Protection of agricultural fields against wind and desertification.

4. Fodder supply, and

5. Recreation needs.