The agroforestry practices in SAARC countries: A critical review
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FAO ;
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Agroforestry, a land use practice that integrates tree and agriculture crops in a given space and time, is a prominent land-use practices in South Asia region. In addition to trees and agriculture component, agroforestry accommodates livestock and non-timber forest products and therefore enhances people’s livelihood at the local level. It has also been claimed that agroforestry practices minimise the effect of climate change, conserve soil and water, sequester atmospheric carbon and provides various ecosystem services. But as concrete evidences
are rather scarce.
In order to examine the benefits and service functions of agroforestry (production, protection, regulatory and other ecosystem services), a critical review of existing agroforestry related policy and provision from the region was carried out. The review suggests that almost all SAARC countries practice agroforestry as one of the options for immediate use of forestry products while generating additional household income. However, the evidences of intangible agroforestry functions such as regulatory, protection and other ecosystem services aren't duly acknowledged. There are now legal provisions for taking up agroforestry practices.
The review suggests that small land holdings (< 0.5 hectares) among the farmers is one of the most hindering factor in developing large scale agroforestry practices in the region. Scale of products obtained from agroforestry practices are not large and are not adequate enough to make desired income. Yet the future of agroforestry in most SAARC countries is bright because of increasing awareness towards agroforestry and its multiple uses including trend of utilizing the tree species for small scale enterprises, and for industrial and commercial use.
Keywords: Agroforestry, ecosystem services, SAARC countries, sustainable development goals
ID: 3476527