Page 138 - 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”

their perceived role in climate mitigation through their carbon sink functions and the low C footprints of the
homegarden products.

Distribution
The warm humid tropics represent major share of the homegardens in the world. Historically, their origin
dates back to human settled agriculture, proceeding the era of shifting cultivation. Thereafter homegardens
gradually spread to many humid regions in South- and Southeast Asia including Java (Indonesia), the
Philippines, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh. Randhawa (1980) reports that many travelers in the
early 14 century describes the homegardens in Kerala with coconut (Cocos nucifera), black pepper (Piper
th
nigrum), ginger (Zingiber officinale), sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum) and pulses (grain legumes). Nair
and Kumar (2006) well described the distribution of homegardens. According to them the largest stretches of
homegardens are found to be in the humid high rainfall regions 40 N and 30 S of equator.
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The homegardens located in the western peninsular regions of the country such as Kerala and the Konkan
regions of states such as Tamilnadu, Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra owe their lineage to the Western Ghats
primarily the rich forest wealth it enjoys. The abundant natural forests wealth of the Western Ghats with rich
biodiversity play critical role in maintaining the ecological stability and agricultural prosperity of this region.
Often the adherence to unscientific and faulty agricultural practices has led to the degradation of this unique
landscape. Though western ghats predominates with natural forests, it aboard large human population to the
extent of 5o million people spreading across the above five states. By virtue of the mountainous landscape and
the influence of the adjoining forest, the traditional farming in these regions has been homegarden based. For
instance, the traditional homegardens of Kerala resemble in tree diversity with the adjoining Western Ghats
vegetation. However, the agricultural landuse pattern in the Western Ghats regions has undergone massive
changes over the time to the extent that most of such practices are unscientific and hence the long term
adherence to such practices has seriously affected the ecological stability of these fragile ecosystems. These
landuse issues are further compounded by the recent unprecedented climatic extremes and the associated
floods and landslides mooted by the climate change.

Tree-crop diversity
The most distinguishing factor of homegardens is their intimate assemblage of tree-crop-livestock in
variable spatial and temporal patterns. The most distinguishing factor of homegarden from other agricultural
land use systems is the high species diversity (Abebe et al. 2006; George and Christopher, 2020). They
are often christened as the epitome of biodiversity (Kumar and Nair, 2004). Livelihood conditions are
important factor influencing the structure and composition of homegardens. The species diversity is strongly
influenced by functional priorities evolved through generations. Also, it is often dictated by the agroecological
adaptability. Homegarden component diversity may be affected geographic conditions as well.

Considerable differences exist in the species diversity with homegarden types. For instance, Javanese
homegardens are rich in diversity as compared to those found in other regions. Studies on diversity of
arboreal taxa in different homegardens clearly demonstrate their variation. For instance, Kumar et al. (1994)
reported 127 tree taxa in the homegardens of Kerala, India. Among them coconut and arecanut were the most
prominent. Ailanthus triphysa, Mangifera indica, Artocarpus heterophyllus, Tamarindus, Erythrina indica,

Institute of Animal Nutrition, Centre for Animal Production Studies, TANUVAS
National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development 119