Page 136 - Agroforestry system - book inner (final corrected) - 9.-3-21_Neat

National level e-symposium on “Agroforestry system for augmenting livestock
productivity and empowering resource poor rural farmers”

strengthened by innovations in domestication of useful species and crafting market regimes for the products
derived from agroforestry and ethnoforestry systems (Pangging and Arunachalam, 2008). Future research
is required to eliminate many of the uncertainties that remain, and also carefully test the main functions
attributed to agroforestry against alternative land-use options in order to know unequivocally as to what
extent agroforestry served these purposes.
Traditional agroforestry in conserving animal biodiversity

Livestock integrated agroforestry is perhaps one of the oldest forms of agroforestry. Cattle, goats
and sheeps have been fed with browse (tree, fodder) or from pastures grown on wooded rangelands
since immemorial times. If browse is produced, animals can themselves browse the trees, as for
goats and camels, or the browse can be cut and carried for stall feeding, as in fodder banks. A
diversity of crop and animal species, at the community, farm, or field level adds to social and
economic consistency through reducing dependence on a single enterprise. Such diversity can
also guide to a more resourceful use of natural resources, for example, through providing greater
opportunity for nutrient recycling (Carroll et al, 1990).

Sericulture is yet another vacating being practiced since time immemorial as a part time occupation
of this region in agroforesty systems (Gargi et al. 1994). All the four commercially known varieties
of silk viz, mulberry, eri, muga and tasar are produced in many parts of the region (Prasad et al.
1996). It provides multiple outputs, generates income as well as employment and also protects
the soil. Its large adoption in the region will achieve conservation-linked sustainable production
goals. Fish-ponds are an important and intensive form of production in this region. Planting of
Sesbania sp. around fish-ponds augments the fish diet. In hedge row intercropping after a period of
intercropping with annual crops, the crop land is allowed to revert to pasture and animals are put on
the land to graze and browse, returning manure directly to the soil.

Livestock occupies an important position in the northeast India. Here it may be mentioned that
northeast hill region accounts for 60% of the total pig population of India (Verma et al. 2001). The
traditional agroforestry is a system where farmers can rear both wild and domestic animals, so it
can be considered as a home for many wild and domestic animals. Any animal or plant diversity
conservation process, however, cannot succeed without the involvement of the local people. It
is imperative that the local knowledge helps in scenario analysis, data collection, management
planning, designing of the adaptive strategies to learn and get feedback and institutional support to
put policies in to practice (Getz et al. 1999).

Over all, the agroforestry functionally enables climate resilience and help mitigate the growing carbon
concentrations in the atmosphere by sequestering carbon in the plant biomass, particularly the tree component
of the agroforestry systems. At the same time, several intangible benefits are also accorded to the association
of trees in the agricultural systems such as soil and water conservation, increased soil biological activity, etc.
that sustains the overall ecological productivity of the system. Thus, more awareness and interventions are
required to popularize this eco-friendly technology by providing tree-based farming solutions. Nonetheless, the
research and development process should also be carried out to solve the problems in introducing agroforestry
practice along the temporal and spatial scales in different agro-ecological regime for food, fodder, fuel, fruits
and flowers.

Institute of Animal Nutrition, Centre for Animal Production Studies, TANUVAS
National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development 117