Agroforestry Practices in Ballia District of Eastern Plain Region of Uttar Pradesh, India

Abstract— Agroforestry is an efficient land-use system where trees or shrubs are grown with arable crops, seeking positive interactions in enhancing productivity on the sustainable basis. Agroforestry combines agriculture and forestry technologies to create more integrated, diverse, productive, profitable, healthy and sustainable land-use systems. The study was conducted in selected villages (1%) of Ballia District of Eastern plain region of Uttar Pradesh in India during the year 2018 to record the crop combinations with tree species and their stratified arrangement to identify agroforestry practices. The socio-economic studies based on general village profile, land holding, land use pattern and tree species planting pattern were performed in 1 % villages to collect the data with structured questionnaire and Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) tools. The results demonstrated that a total of six different agroforestry practices, agri-silviculture, silvi-horticulture, agri-horticulture, agri-silvi-horticulture, silvi-pastoral, and homestead existed in different villages. Out of different categories, timber, fruits, medicinal, agriculture, flower and other plant species were recorded. It was recorded that out of existing agroforestry practices, scattered near farms and around homestead was found most common (about 37.7 %) followed by agri-silviculture (20.20 %), silvi-horticulture (19.1 %) and agri-horticulture (12.3 %). The pattern of plantation on bunds and blocks was 17.94 % and 16.82 % respectively. The benefits from agro forestry practices in the villages was also assessed and ranked in their order of preferences in respective blocks of district. The different benefits as fruits/vegetables, timber, shade, medicinal, fodder, firewood, protection, and soil erosion were scored from 1 to 8. It was concluded from the results that status of agroforestry in the studied zonal area of the region is in developing stage and needs to be improved by imparting technical knowledge about planting material, methods and sale of end produces of trees to the farmers and tree growers.