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Centre releases fact sheet to promote agroforestry
The report released details cultivating 36 specific species, including bamboo, that are suitable for agroforestry systems and home gardens.
After enacting a new law to regulate forest conservation in India that exempts agroforestry and plantations from regulatory oversight so that farmers can practice agroforestry on private land and harvest timber as required, the central government has published a fact sheet listing 36 species that can be grown in different agro-climatic zones.
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“Agroforestry is a combination of practising agriculture and forestry together on the same unit of land. It is a traditional practice recognizing and promoting trees and/or livestock on farms in a special arrangement pattern,” the FAQ document prepared by the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education and released by the environment ministry on August 16 said.
The report released on the ministry’s website details cultivating 36 specific species, including bamboo, that are suitable for agroforestry systems and home gardens. “Information is also on prospective state-specific agroforestry tree species, ICFRE-developed agro climate-specific models, supplemented with state-specific felling and transit regulations,” the FAQ stated.
The 36 species include Leucaena leucocephala, or subabul, and various varieties of eucalyptus. Subabul is considered an invasive species that has been reported as a weed in more than 20 countries, according to an International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) database. Eucalyptus is considered highly water-intensive. The list also includes important timber species such as poplar, teak, shisham (Indian rosewood) and mahogany.
The production of teak in India is considered to be less than 3% of total consumption. With increasing prices due to low harvests in India and significant demand, imports have been increasing. Between 2009 and 2019, India imported about 10 million cubic metres (cum) of round wood and 900,000 cum of sawn and chipped teakwood, according to the FAQ. India imported mahogany to the tune of $53.86 million in 2018, with demand on the rise.
Agroforestry practices have both financial and environmental advantages, the FAQ said. These include farm profitability; the combined output of trees, crops, and livestock per unit area is greater than the combined output of any one of the components acting alone; mulch and leaf litter as manure and bio-pesticides from tree components; crops and livestock protected from wind damage; new products from agroforestry increasing financial flexibility and diversification of farming enterprises and diversification; and carbon sequestration, among others.
The preamble of the Forest Conservation (Amendment) Act 2023 focuses on achieving India’s goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2070. India’s nationally determined contribution goal speaks of creating carbon sinks of additional 2.5 to 3.0 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2030.
“There were apprehensions that plantations on the lands of individuals and organisations can attract provisions of the Forest Conservation Act. Therefore, clarity has been provided in the bill that provisions of the Act will not be applicable in the private lands, which will encourage plantation in private lands, thereby helping the country to increase the area under green cover, enhancing the carbon sink and reducing the biotic pressure on forests,” environment minister Bhupender Yadav had said in an interview to HT on August 12.
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“In addition to these, it will also help in making our country Atmanirbhar (self-reliant) by generating additional income to our farmers while simultaneously reducing the wood import Bills of the country,” he had said.
“These are comprehensive guidelines,” said Chetan Agrawal, a Gurugram- based forest researcher. “Leucaena leucocephala is now generally recognised as an invasive species and should probably not be promoted. Some states are actively considering its removal. In addition to the environmental benefits mentioned in the document, there is also need to recognise the environmental and hydrological trade-offs of certain fast-growing species and the need to manage the same, particularly in lower rainfall zones.”
"Invasive species need to be screened out. Species that can do well under climate change conditions need to be considered. The biodiversity co-benefits need to be looked at. Also, plantations on abandoned agricultural land need careful attention so that their density does not exceed hydrologic trade-off thresholds," said Jagdish Krishnaswamy, dean of School of Environment and Sustainability at Indian Institute for Human Settlements, Bengaluru.
