Page 74 - 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”

Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairy (DAHD) officials acknowledge that there is a need to adopt
the practice of land use with multiple crops in a sustainable manner. Adopting silvi-pastoral and horti-pastoral
models suitable to the area could help in substantially enhancing the availability of forage for the livestock.
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her union budget (2020-21), had stated that the Mahatma Gandhi
National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) ‘would be devoted to develop fodder farms.
To cope with some of these challenges and tackle these problems of food fodder and environmental security,
the potentials of agroforestry need to be fully exploited. Presently some initiatives are being undertaken
by the governments, farmers, non-government organizations and industries in the subcontinent to develop
appropriate agroforestry systems and popularize them.

As discussed above, tree leaves from the traditional agroforestry systems of temperate region constitute
an important source for meeting 50 to 90% of the lean period forage demand. During winter, coppices of
willow trees are pollarded and the bark of coppices peeled out for feeding the livestock. Bark and coppices of
around one centimeter diameter are fed as green fodder to livestock, sheep and goats. Such overexploitation
and unscientific management of fodder trees, however, have depleted this resource. The traditional
agroforestry systems in the temperate agro-climatic zone of the country vary and depend on altitude, climate
and topography. Major tree based systems along an altitudinal gradient are summarized in Table 1.

Table 1: Prominent traditional agroforestry systems of Temperate Western Himalayan Region

Zones Agroforestry systems Components
Jammu and Kashmir

Zone II and III Agri-silviculture Forest trees: Himalayan poplar (Populus ciliata), white
1000–2500 m willow (Salix alba), black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia),
Himalayan alder (Alnus nepalensis), banj oak (Quercus
leucotrichophora), Himalayan elm (Ulmus wallichiana),
lote tree or honeyberry (Celtis australis)

Crops: Wheat, oat (Avena sativa), maize, medicinal and
aromatic plants, and yams (Dioscorea spp.)

Zone III < 2500 Boundary plantation Forest trees: Eastern poplar, black poplar (Populus nigra),
m (low lying area) white willow, Indian horse chestnut (Aesculus indica), etc

Crops: Paddy (Oryza sativa), oat, mustard (Brassica
nigra), wheat, etc.

Horti-silviculture (high Forest trees: Himalayan poplar, black poplar, white willow,
altitude, rainfed) black locust, tree-of-heaven (Ailanthus altissima), Indian
horse chestnut etc.
Horticulture trees: Pomegranate (Punica granatum),
walnut (Juglans regia), apricot (Prunus armeniaca), peach
(Prunus persica), pear (Pyrus communis), apple (Malus
domestica), almond (Prunus dulcis)

Institute of Animal Nutrition, Centre for Animal Production Studies, TANUVAS
National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development 55