Management practices for successful agro-forestry venture

摘要

Trees have always remained an integral part of farming system in Punjab. Under the crop diversification plan, the state government has envisaged to bring 1.4 lakh ha area under agro-forestry out of total 10 lakh ha to be diverted from rice cultivation. Further, under the Green Punjab Mission, the state government has set a target to increase the area under trees from the existing 7 to 15 per cent.Farmers of Punjab have achieved high economic returns by adopting fast growing poplar based agro-forestrysystem. They have adopted its cultivation as block plantation or around field bunds, owing to its very fast growth rate (up to 100 q of wood/acre/year) under short-rotation period (6-7 years) with multiple uses of wood and higher returns. The basic idea of this article is to tell the farmers some important points that can help them to achieve higher returns from agro-forestry.