Social Forestry And Agro Forestry

•    The management and protection of forests, as well as the afforestation of barren and deforested lands, are all examples of social forestry. Its goal is to aid environmental, social, and rural development. The National Commission on Agriculture of the Government of India coined the term "social forestry" in 1977. 

 

•    India began a social forestry project at that time, with the goal of relieving pressure on existing forests by planting trees on all unused and fallow land.

 

1.    Increasing Forest Area and Restoring Ecological Balance

•    Trees take water from the lower soil strata and transport it to the upper layers via their long tap root system, as well as preventing water evaporation. Trees aid in soil conservation by preventing wind and water erosion. Trees provide habitat for a variety of birds and animals, some of which are agriculturally beneficial.

 

2.    Meeting Basic Rural Needs: Food, fuel, fodder, fertiliser (green manure), and fibre are the five basic rural needs met by social forestry. The widespread deforestation of easily accessible forests has resulted in a severe shortage of fuel and fodder. 

 

3.    Ensuring Better Land Use: By preventing soil erosion, facilitating marginal land reclamation, preventing waterlogging, and achieving monolithic integration of forestry, agriculture, and animal husbandry, social forestry contributes to a balanced and viable land use.

 

4.    Generation of Employment: In rural areas, social forestry operations have the potential to improve employment, particularly during the lean agricultural season. This aids in the stabilisation of lower-income people's incomes.

 

5.    Controlling Pollution: Trees are known to absorb and release harmful gases. As a result, they aid in the reduction of air pollution, particularly in urban areas.

 

•    Agroforestry is the management and integration of trees, crops, and/or livestock on the same piece of land, and it can be an important part of agricultural production. It could include existing native forests as well as forested areas created by landowners. It's a versatile concept that can be applied to both small and large land holdings.

 

•    Agroforestry is one of the three major land-use sciences, the other two being agriculture and forestry, and is derived from ecology. Agroforestry differs from the other two principles in that it emphasizes the integration and interactions of a number of different elements rather than focusing on each one separately.

 

•    Agroforestry and intercropping (the practice of planting two or more crops on the same plot) have a lot in common, with both emphasizing the interaction of different plant species. Agroforestry and intercropping, in general, can result in higher overall yields and lower operational costs.

 

•    Silvopasture is a type of farming that combines trees, livestock, and their forages on a single piece of land. The trees provide shade and shelter for livestock and their forages, as well as timber, fruit, and nuts, reducing stress on the animals from the hot summer sun, cold winter winds, or a downpour.

 

•    Planting crops between rows of trees to provide income while the trees mature is known as alley cropping. Fruits, vegetables, grains, flowers, herbs, bioenergy feedstocks, and other items can be grown in the system.

 

•    Food, herbal, botanical, or decorative crops are grown under a forest canopy that is managed to provide optimal shade levels, as well as other products, in forest farming operations. Multi-story cropping is another name for forest farming.

 

•    Windbreaks provide protection for crops, animals, buildings, and soil from the elements such as wind, snow, dust, and odours. 

 

•    These areas can also support wildlife and generate additional revenue. Shelterbelts, hedgerows, and living snow fences are other names for them.

 

•    Riparian forest buffers are natural or re-established areas of trees, shrubs, and grasses along rivers and streams. These buffers can help filter farm runoff while also preventing erosion by stabilizing the banks of streams, rivers, lakes, and ponds. These areas can also support wildlife and generate additional revenue.

 

1.    They can reduce water, soil material, organic matter, and nutrient losses by controlling runoff and soil erosion.

 

2.    They can keep the organic matter and biological activity in the soil at levels that are suitable for soil fertility. This is dependent on a sufficient number of trees in the system—usually at least 20% crown cover of trees—to maintain organic matter over the entire system.

 

3.    They can maintain better soil physical properties than agriculture by preserving organic matter and the effects of tree roots.

 

4.    They may result in a more closed nutrient cycle than agriculture, resulting in more efficient nutrient use. This is especially true in the case of forest garden/farming systems.

 

5.    They can slow the progression of soil toxicity or reduce existing toxicity—soil acidification and salinization can be slowed, and trees can help with polluted soil reclamation.

 

6.    They use solar energy more efficiently than monocultural systems, thanks to a variety of plant heights, leaf shapes, and alignments.

 

7.    They have the potential to reduce insect pests and diseases associated with them.

 

8.    They can be used to reclaim land that has been eroded or degraded.

 

9.    Agroforestry can help land use systems with soil water availability. However, in dry areas, competition between trees and crops is a major issue.

 

10.    Nitrogen-fixing trees and shrubs can boost nitrogen inputs to agroforestry systems significantly.

 

11.    By retrieving nutrients from lower soil horizons and weathering rock, trees can likely increase nutrient inputs to agroforestry systems.

 

12.    Tree decomposition and pruning can help to maintain soil fertility in a significant way. Crop yields increase dramatically when high-quality tree prunings are added.

 

13.    The release of nutrients from the decomposition of tree residues can be timed to coincide with the requirements of associated crops for nutrient uptake. While different trees and crops have different needs, and there will always be some imbalance, adding high-quality prunings to the soil at the time of crop planting usually results in a good degree of nutrient release and demand synchronisation.

 

14.    Roots play at least as important a role as above-ground biomass in the maintenance of soil fertility in agroforestry.

 

15.    Agroforestry can help to diversify farm economies and boost the rural economy, resulting in more stable farms and communities. When systems produce multiple products, economic risks are reduced.