Agroforestry Practices Prevailing in SAARC Countries: A Review

Abstract

Agroforestry systems have been used from a long time ago. The traditional agroforestry concept and knowledge of integration of the trees in the farm have been passed from one generation to another, especially in the South Asian countries. The study is aimed at collecting information on agroforestry practices prevailing in SAARC countries. Information related to prevailing practices of agroforestry was collected from reviewing literature for each country differently. In Afghanistan, the Government has given the seedlings of trees to grow along with the agricultural land. Multistoried agroforestry system with integration of other plants in different spatial designs is mostly used in Bangladesh. Shifting cultivation is the traditional system, integration of crop production, grazing animals, and forest areas in Bhutan is practiced. Being the first and second country to formulate the Agroforestry policy, both India and Nepal respectively follows a traditional system along with some research-based agroforestry system. Pakistan mostly used the farm-based agroforestry system while in Maldives and Srilanka, Coconut based agroforestry system is used mostly. The communities of the SAARC countries have improved livelihood through the generation of the multi-product through the introduction of the new agroforestry systems. The different systems applied in the SAARC countries should be explored and the issues need to be resolved by the formulation of the policies, conduct research, extensions, and training related to the advancement of the Agroforestry. The knowledge and concept of the different agroforestry systems should be disseminated and other systems should be developed from the consultation with the farmers.