Preface

I. Introduction
II. Advantages of Farm Forestry
III. Land Suitable For Farm Forestry
IV. Planning Farm Forestry
V. Management of Farm Forestry
VI. Farm Forestry and Land Improvement
VII. National Forest Policy and Farm Forestry
Preface

Farm forestry is a practice of raising trees for timber, fuel or fruit within the farmstead on the land which is generally not useful for crop cultivation. Farm forestry, besides providing timber, fuel wood or fruits to farmer, it also conserves soil and water. It improves the fertility status of the farm lands and ameliorate the surrounding environment. This booklet focuses on some of the important aspects of farm forestry.
Dr. K.T. Chandy, Agricultural & Environmental Education

I. Introduction

Farm forestry means farming with selected trees depending on the need of the farmer. The trees should not be only commonly cultivated commercial fruit trees. However, non-commercial wild fruit trees may also be included in the farm forestry. The selected trees are commonly used for firewood, timber, fodder and manure. Like non-commercial wild fruit trees, some fibre trees can also be included. Strictly speaking, farm forestry means creating a small forestry on a farm land. Forestry means permanent trees which cover at least 70-80% of the planted area. The national recommended average tree cover for forest land is only 40% area. The fodder trees and manure trees being pruned regularly every year cannot provide required amount of tree cover for a longer period. Hence strictly speaking on the fire wood trees, timber trees and non-commercial wild fruit trees can only be used for farm forestry. At least five to eight years of continued tree cover is required to be called as farm forestry.

The primary needs of the farmer may be firewood, timber and money. Besides he may need fodder, green manures, soil conservation, water conservation, waste land utilization, wild fruits and nuts, and other minor forest products. The farm forestry should be able to fulfill one or more of these needs and at the same time maintain a permanent tree coverage over 70-80% of the land. Less than 75% coverage in forestry is a wasteful usage of land.

Farm forestry is usually owned by the landlord or the tenant. In case of tenancy, there may be more than one owner. Instead of the usual crop trees are planted on the farm land. But if a group of people plant trees on a piece of land and share the products is called social forestry whereas a person who plant trees along with crops is called agro-forestry. Thus, one should clearly know about the difference between farm forestry, social forestry and agro- forestry.


ll. Advantages of Farm Forestry

The advantages of farm forestry are many. Some of them are enumerated here.

1. Production of valuable timber, firewood and other minor forest products.
2. Use of uncultivable land and making it productive.
3. Conserving soil and water.
4. Soil enrichment due to biomass incorporation mainly in the form of leaves and other rotten parts of the tree.
5. Air purification due to absorption of carbon dioxide and release of oxygen.
6. It helps for windbreak and shelterbelt.
7. Considerable amount of income is obtained from the sale or utilisation of timber and firewood.
8. The net income is very high.

Among the advantages of farm forestry, ecological improvement needs special attention. This is explained here by using an example. If we plant trees at four feet distance, there will be 2722 trees in an acre of land. Assuming 100% survival after eight to ten years the average weight of each tree will be around 300-400 kg including roots and leaves. This means 716 to 1361 tonnes of biomass will be generated. Suppose 75% of this biomass is water, then 537 to 1020.75 tonnes of water will be stored per acre. Similarly 179 to 341 tonnes of dry biomass (organic matter) will be created. Both water storage and organic matter created in a land that was considered a waste, has tremendous influence on the ecosystem of the place. People seldom realize the value of such changes in the ecosystem. Often they look for only immediate economic benefit.

The second most important ecological advantage of farm forestry is the improvement of soil fertility due to addition of organic matter from the fallen leaves which are allowed to form a mulch, eventually after decaying they become one with the soil. As a result the microbial population increases tremendously, which maintains the fertility of the soil.

To maintain at least one third of the area of the farm land, agro- forestry or farm forestry should be a common practice among the farmers. If the land is less suitable for cultivation, it should be placed under farm forestry.

III. Land Suitable for Farm Forestry

Any land can be used for farm forestry. However, the following types of lands are more practically suited for farm forestry.

1. Uncultivable landbr

The uncultivable lands may be: waste land, eroded land, rocky land, steep sloping land, dry land, saline and alkaline land, sandy land, etc.

2. Cultivable landbr

The cultivable lands such as unirrigated land, land with poor soil depth, land with poor soil fertility, too small holdings, land on which economical farming is not possible, land that cannot be supervised regularly and frequently, excess of cultivated land, etc. are placed for farm forestry.

IV. Planning Farm Forestry

Planning is necessary to maximize income from a farm forestry. Various steps in planning a farm forestry are explained in the sequence.