CAFRI Jhansi Vision 2050
CAFRI Jhansi Vision 2050
CAFRI Jhansi Vision 2050
www.nrcaf.res.in
Printed : July 2015CTO (Production) :Kul Bhushan Gupta
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Indian Council of Agricultural Research
(S. AYYAPPAN)
Secretary, Department of Agricultural Research & Education (DARE)
and Director-General, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)
Krishi Bhavan, Dr Rajendra Prasad Road,
New Delhi 110 001
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Preface
The Central Agroforestry Research Institute (CAFRI), erstwhile National
Research Centre for Agroforestry at Jhansi under the aegis of Indian
Council of Agricultural Research is the only institution in the South-
Asia representing the integration of agriculture and forestry to increase
the productivity and sustainability of farming system to augment farm
income and provide livelihood security. The organized research conducted
by the CAFRI and AICRP on Agroforestry with its 37 Centres located
in different parts of the country have led to notable accomplishments in
land use and farm income diversification, natural resource management,
climate resilience, secondary agriculture and economic transformation of
farmers through technological interventions.
Agroforestry, the practice of introducing trees in farming has played a
significant role in enhancing land productivity and improving livelihood
in both rainfed and irrigated ecologies. At the same time agroforestry
interventions in farmland have far reaching environmental and ecological
impacts. The role of agroforestry in soil conservation, bio-amelioration
and climate moderation is most widely acclaimed and one of the
compelling reasons for including trees on farm lands. It is now a proven
fact that the global climate is changing and measures for its mitigation
and adaptation are essential to face the new challenges. Agroforestry
has the potential to mitigate the climate change through micro-climate
moderation and natural resources conservation in short run and through
carbon sequestration in long run. Thus, the present challenges of
food, nutrition, energy and environment security can be met through
different agroforestry systems developed for various agro-climatic zones.
Agroforestry has a great potential to provide employment to rural and
urban population through industrial application and value addition.
With the implementation of recently launched National Agroforestry
Policy, it is likely to transform the rural economy by expanding tree
plantation in complementarities and integrated manner with crops and
livestock to improve productivity, employment, income and livelihoods
of rural households, especially the small holder farmers, besides help in
mitigating climate change effects.
The systematic efforts to envision the challenges and opportunities,
and formulate its own strategy were undertaken in 1997, 2007 and
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Indian Council of Agricultural Research
(Anil Kumar)
Director
ICAR-CAFRI, Jhansi
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Contents
Message iii
Foreword v
Preface vii
1. Context 1
2. Challenges 5
3. Operating Environment 11
5. New Opportunities 18
8. Way Forward 33
References 35
Context
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lac, apiculture and sericulture cultivation. Suitable trees for gum and
resin have been identified for development under agroforestry.
Agroforestry systems also provide environmental services in addition
to the economic gains and other contributions. Agroforestry systems
increase and conserve aboveground and soil carbon stocks. Agroforestry
thus contributes to the resilience of agriculture by adaptation and
mitigation of climate change effects. In India, evidence is now emerging
that agroforestry systems are promising land use system to increase and
conserve aboveground and soil carbon stocks to mitigate climate change
(Dhyani et al., 2009). Average sequestration potential in agroforestry in
India has been estimated to be 25 t C ha-1 over 96 million ha (Sathaye
and Ravindranath, 1998). In another estimate agroforestry contributes
19.30% of total C stock under different land uses. The potential of
agroforestry systems as carbon sink varies depending upon the species
composition, age of trees, geographic location, local climatic factors
and management regimes. The growing body of literature indicates
that agroforestry systems has the potential to sequester large amounts
of above and below ground carbon in addition to SOC enhancement,
as compared to treeless farming systems (Ajit et al., 2013). Agroforestry
is contributing to achieve the national goal as desired tree cover from
present less than 25 per cent to 33 per cent in the country can only
be achieved by planting trees on farm field/bunds, especially in states
that have low tree cover.
However, increasing demand of household and wood based
industries and changing priorities in bio-fuels, bio-energy, tree borne
oil seeds (TBOs), value addition, crop diversification, employment
generation, watershed protection, carbon sequestration, ecosystem
services and mitigating climate change effects call for new thrust in
agroforestry research and development.
Central Agroforestry Research Institute (CAFRI), erstwhile
NRC for Agroforestry prepared its first Perspective Plan in 1997 to
conceptualize, visualize and achieve the targets and programmes for
agroforestry research in the country by preparing ‘Vision 2020’. This
was followed by preparing ‘Perspective Plan 2025’ in 2007 to address
the changes that had taken place and to address emerging issues and
challenges. In view of rapid changes during the last one decade mainly
due to climate change which affected agriculture in a big way, a
‘NRCAF Vision 2030’ document was prepared in 2011. The document
highlighted key challenges and opportunities in the agriculture sector in
general and agroforestry sector in particular in the coming two decades
for development of an appropriate strategy and roadmap to define
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Challenges
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2012 Revision, UN, The Hindu, June 13, 2013). Population of the
country will touch 1.4 billion mark by 2025 and 1.6 billion by 2050.
Thus, there will be an increase of about 33 per cent in population of
the country, but the per capita surface water availability and per capita
utilizable surface water will decline by about 30 per cent by 2050 as
compared to present. These all effects will result in low agricultural
and livestock productivity, less industrial output and degradation of
natural resources, which ultimately raise the concerns for livelihood
opportunities, employment generation and natural resource conservation
(Figure 1).
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Apart from fuel wood, fodder, fibre, fruits and medicine, other key
advantages from agroforestry include the following:
• Land rehabilitation and land reclamation.
• Rehabilitation of saline, alkaline and water-logged soils through
bio-drainage by planting suitable species. Surface mined areas
are reclaimed through bioremediation;
• New self-nourishing systems of stand management (e.g. nitrogen-
fixing/fertilizer trees) that mimic the natural ecosystem, where
significant quantities of nitrogen are added via the biological
fixation pathway in the low fertility sites;
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Operating Environment
Global scenario
Agroforestry is practiced in all continents of the world. A high
percentage of tree cover is found in nearly all continents of the world,
highest being in Central America and southeast Asia. There is now
general agreement about the magnitude and scale of the integration of
trees into agricultural lands and their active management by farmers
and pastoralists. Dixon (1995) estimated a total 585-1215 million ha of
land in Africa, Asia and the Americas under agroforestry, while Nair et
al. (2009) estimated a land area of 1,023 million ha under agroforestry
worldwide. Almost half of the world’s agricultural lands have at least
a 10 per cent tree cover, suggesting that agroforestry, an integrated
system of trees, crops and /or livestock within a managed farm or
agricultural landscape, is widespread (Zomer et al., 2009). Agroforestry
is contributing substantially in economic growth of various countries.
The economic importance of agroforestry can be partly understood by
examining data on the export value of major tree products. FAOSTAT
(2011) shows that conservative estimates of international trade of this
list of tree products was valued at a whopping US$140 billion in 2009.
The actual production levels are much higher, considering that the list
includes only well known and common tree products and that many
tree products in developing countries are not marketed internationally
(e.g. firewood, fodder, medicinal uses) and for products such as fruit,
as much as 90% of production is consumed domestically. In addition,
the positive externalities (or ecosystem services) represented by trees
(e.g. carbon sequestration, nutrient cycling, provision of shade, etc.)
are not counted.
Agroforestry research at the international level is conducted by
the International Centre for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF), now
named as World Agroforestry Centre, which was started in 1978 at
Nairobi in Kenya. Now it is a CGIAR Consortium Research Centre
with five regional offices located in Cameroon, India, Indonesia, Kenya
and Peru. The Centre’s aim is to increase use of trees in agricultural
landscapes to improve their food security, nutrition, income, health,
shelter, social cohesion, energy resources and environmental sustainability
of small holders.
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are beyond the reach of grasses and other herbaceous plants. Trees that
accumulate nitrogen enhance forage quality. Their relative deep root
system can exploit deep moisture resources and, using this and other
strategies, trees are more tolerant to dry periods than pastures.
The success of industrial agroforestry be attributed to short gestation
period, improved planting material, regular and high returns, readily
available market and no restrictions on transportation. Availability of
quality planting material is therefore, one of the major concerns that
needs to be addressed urgently. Understanding of the biophysical issues
related to productivity, water resource sharing, soil fertility and plant
interactions in mixed communities are also inadequate because research
has been mostly observational in nature rather than process oriented.
Methods to value and assess the social, cultural and economic benefits
of agroforestry systems are not available and the socio-economic
processes involved in the success and failure of agroforestry have to be
fully investigated. The successful practices of wasteland reclamation and
poplar-based agroforestry showed that these technologies were widely
adopted when their socio-economic benefits appeared convincing.
Policy on tree felling from agroforestry systems holds the key to
large-scale agroforestry adoption. Industries have taken up poplar,
Eucalyptus, bamboos, Acacia, Casuarina, Ailanthus and teak for
commercial agroforestry due to their great market potential. Genetically
improved clonal planting stock of eucalyptus, poplars and acacias has
transformed the productivity and profitability of plantations. Average
yields from such clonal plantations are 20 to 25 times higher compared
to the average productivity of forests in India. Almost 50 million
plants of improved eucalyptus are being planted every year. However,
indigenous species like shisham, babul, neem, ber, palash in spite of
Aonla based agroforestry system- a boon for rainfed farmers in semi-arid, arid regions
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CAFRI and Agroforestry Network
Vision
Integration of woody perennials in the farming system to improve
land productivity through natural resource conservation, restoration of
ecological balance, alleviation of poverty and risk mitigation.
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Mission
To improve quality of life of people through integration of trees
in farming system.
Focus
To achieve the vision and mission of CAFRI, it gives highest priority
to farmers and wood-based industries for uplifting rural economy,
apprehending deteriorating environment, stabilizing productivity and
meeting diverse needs of people.
Mandate of CAFRI
• To undertake basic and applied research for developing and delivering
technologies based on sustainable agroforestry practices for farms,
marginal land and wastelands in different agroclimatic zones in India.
• To coordinate network research with the State Agricultural
Universities/ICAR Institutes/other related research Institutes for
identifying technologies which can be transferred from one region
to another.
• To provide training in (a) research methodologies and (b) use and
application of technologies developed, at various levels.
• To develop technological packages of different agroforestry practices
for various agroclimatic zones for transfer to farm, field and
wastelands.
• To act as repository of information on the subject.
• To collaborate with relevant national and international agencies for
achieving the mandate.
• To provide consultancy.
Infrastructure requirement
The ICAR has recently upgraded the NRCAF as Central
Agroforestry Research Institute (CAFRI), which is still developing its
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New Opportunities
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Goals and Targets
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seed and oil yield of TBOs, and this will require concerted efforts from
all quarters (Dhyani et al., 2011).
• In rural areas 70-80% energy comes through biomass from trees
and shrubs. Due to agroforestry initiatives large amount of woods
are now being produced from outside the conventional forestlands.
Small landholdings and marginal farmers, through short rotation
forestry and agroforestry practices are now providing the bulk of
country’s domestically produced wood products. Prosopis juliflora is
the major source of fuel for the boilers of the power generation
plants in Andhra Pradesh. The fuel wood potential of indigenous
(Acacia nilotica, Azadirachta indica, Casuarina equisetifolia, Dalbergia
sissoo, Prosopis cineraria and Ziziphus mauritiana) and exotic (Acacia
auriculiformis, A. tortilis, Eucalyptus camaldulensis and E. tereticornis)
trees revealed that calorific values range from 18.7 to 20.8 MJ kg-1
for indigenous tree species and 17.3 to19.3 MJ kg-1 for exotics.
Species such as Casuarina equisetifolia, Prosopis juliflora, Leuceana
leucocephala and Calliandra calothyrsus have become prominent
due to their potential for providing wood energy at the highest
efficiency, shorter rotation and also their high adaptability to diverse
habitats and climates. Agroforestry plantations on community land
and live fence on farm boundaries have immense potential in this
regards. The option of biomass based power plant where electricity
generation can be aimed from crop/plant residue is yet another
option.
• Success in agroforestry, however will depend upon making available
quality planting material, hence tree improvement and production
of quality planting material should get priority in future as well.
• Capacity building of all stakeholders (producer, processor and
consumer) needs due emphasis.
• Agroforestry extension services are grossly lacking. There is no
dedicated extension support service for agroforestry. Institutions like
KVK should be strengthened for the purpose. Although, agriculture
is the state subject, the concerned state should be pursued to include
agroforestry as a subject in its development and extension agenda.
• Non-timber produce from agroforestry trees like fruit, flower,
honey, gum, resin, silk, raw medicine, etc. are source of income
and health for tribal and other rural people. However, marketing
hurdles for agroforestry produce are altogether different than that of
agriculture. There are state to state variations for felling, harvesting
and transportation of the tree produce and often linked with state
forest laws. In order to facilitate adoption of agroforestry in the
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Strategy to Achieve the
Objectives and the Outputs
T
•
he roadmap for achieving the objectives and the expected outputs,
outcomes and the beneficiaries are presented here below,
Recurrent Diagnosis and Design (D&D) survey of the different
agro-climatic regions periodically to assess the status of agroforestry
and to further refine the agroforestry technologies based on the
findings of recurrent D & D exercises.
• Molecular characterization and DNA finger printing of germplasm of
important MPTS for application in tree improvement progarmmes.
• State of the art nurseries for producing quality planting material of
important MPTS in different regions.
• Promotion of nitrogen fixing/ fertilizer trees based agroforestry
systems in degraded or low fertility lands for rehabilitation of such
lands.
• Use of geospatial technologies in identifying and assessing the area
under agroforestry in the country.
• Development of digital library of spectral signatures for major
agroforestry systems.
• Assessing potential of agroforestry in carbon sequestration and
mitigating climate change.
• Developing mechanism for the benefit of carbon sequestration
reaching to small holders.
• Screening and evaluation of selected multipurpose trees (MPT)
for higher thermo-tolerance and better Photosystem-II activity for
coping with climate change to increase dry land productivity.
• Standardization, refinement and dissemination of agroforestry based
amelioration technologies for problem soils.
• Genetic improvement of Jatropha curcas, Pongamia pinnata and other
TBOs for maximizing yield, productivity and oil content for biofuel
programme.
• Development, standardization and adoption of agroforestry models
linked with market for enhancing productivity and profitability of
small holding farmers.
• Development of decision support systems for micro level planning.
• Development of an online comprehensive data base on agroforestry
for predicting yield and pricing of agroforestry produce.
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Outputs
• Agroforestry systems with compatible tree-crop combinations
identified for different edaphic and climatic conditions including
degraded lands and problem soils across the agro-ecological zones
of the country.
• Estimation of area under agroforestry in the country.
• Agroforestry land use plans at district level.
• Package of practices for agroforestry systems.
• Tree-crop interactions with respect to insect pest-disease and studies
on micro-organisms for bringing synergy in the system.
• Impact assessment of agroforestry systems on protection of land,
water, environment and socio economic status.
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Outcomes
• Use efficiency of both natural and external resources expected to
be increased by developing and promoting appropriate agroforestry
systems in various agro-climatic conditions for sustainable agriculture
and environmental benefits.
• Poverty alleviation through improved agroforestry systems with
reduced cost of cultivation, judicious use of resources and ensuring
environmental safeguard.
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Way Forward
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q
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