Social Forestry and Agroforestry

Social forestry

It is an afforestation program to meet the social objectives and demands of the local rural and tribal population. Keeping the social objectives in mind social forestry wanted to relieve the burden from traditional ecological is sensitive old-growth forests by encouraging tree plantation on common lands involving the local population

• Recommended in 1952 policy
• Launched in 1970 s

Forest is a source of

• Firewood
• minor forest produce
• Timber
• forest-based cottage industries like Handicrafts and wood carvings
• fodder
• to diversify non-farm income

Social objectives

1. Source of livelihood
2. non farm revenue in drought prone areas
3. water and Land management because it impacts agriculture
4. Gender rights

Strategy

1. Growing usufruct species species
2. Trees in non traditional forest lands
3. Involving local population

Components of social forestry

1. Urban forestry - as a part of urban landscaping
2. farm forestry - trees replace common crops
3. Agroforestry - Common crops + Trees
4. trees along roads Railways community land

Evaluation

The program was well intended to tackle social equity issues but had problems while implementing

Issues

• Farm Forestry
  • This component dominated
  • Not labour intensive so resulted in the loss of employment
  • economic profit motive overwhelmed the social objectives of the program
• Eucalyptus tree was chosen
  • was chosen which is not endemic to India so no ecological or social benefit
  • Deplete groundwater rapidly rapidly
  • Cause forest fires - its reason is highly flammable
  • It is a gregarious species so it crowds out indigenous species

Other Wrong choices in selecting the species the world over are Prairie dog in prairies, rabbits in Australia, and Eucalyptus in India

Agroforestry

it is one of the components of social forestry unlike from Forestry where trees replace crops trees are grown in combination with regular crops

Advantages

• Ecological advantage
  • soil conservation
  • groundwater recharge
  • Slope stabilization
  • shelterbelt in dry areas to check expansion of desert
• social advantage
  • Augment farm income
  • They help source for order firewood
  • Source of food and minor forest pro Evaluation

Evaluation

Agroforestry has no adverse impact under screen rapidly the choice of species and the tree combination is arrived after scientific research

Silvi Systems - forest-based combinations in agriculture is called as silvi systems

• Teak + coffee
• Coconut + fisheries
• Coconut + pepper
• Teak / Sal + grazing land