An independent, peer reviewed journal for policy makers and practitioners in agriculture and related industries, assessing the interactions between population growth, resources, the environment and climate change.
Introduction
The role of trees in environmental security has been well known for ages.
Trees in agroforestry systems not only provide direct benefits (food, fodder, fuelwood, fertilizers, fibres, etc) but also improve soil fertility, reduce soil erosion, filter atmospheric pollutants and most importantly they maintain carbon balance.
Growing multipurpose trees along with agricultural crops, has been considered as a panacea for maladies of intensive agriculture and deforestation…
Anyone who has visited India two or three times in the last decade cannot fail to be impressed by the huge economic progress made in recent years.
Dual carriageways and regular flights now link most major cities and traffic becomes more frenetic by the day, as new cars, motor cycles and lorries crowd onto the congested roads.
This is a reflection not just of economic activity, but of increasing affluence, especially amongst an expanding middle class, whose spending power provides …
Agroforestry is practised by millions of farmers worldwide, and has been a feature of agriculture for millennia.
It encompasses a wide range of trees that are grown on farms and in rural landscapes, and includes the generation of science-based tree enterprise opportunities that can be important in the future (1).
As per the World Bank 2004 report an estimated 1.2 billion rural people currently practise agroforestry on their farms and in their communities and depend upon its …
Anyone who has visited India two or three times in the last decade cannot fail to be impressed by the huge economic progress made in recent years.
Dual carriageways and regular flights now link most major cities and traffic becomes more frenetic by the day, as new cars, motor cycles and lorries crowd onto the congested roads.
This is a reflection not just of economic activity, but of increasing affluence, especially amongst an expanding middle class, whose spending power provides …
Summary
Over the past hundred years, vast areas worldwide have been used for intensive agriculture following clearance by removal of deep rooted tree vegetation or by introducing irrigation in arid zones.
After decades of profitable returns, many of these domains, particularly those underlain with saline aquifers and with poor natural drainage have degraded owing to water logging and salinity.
Disturbed hydrological balance in the form of sustained percolation of surplus surface …
