Introductory Agroforestry

Social Forestry

• Social forestry is the practice of forestry on lands outside the conventional forest area for the benefit of the rural and urban communities.
• The term was coined by J.C. Westoby. It was first recognized as an important component of forestry for meeting rural needs in the interim report of the National Commission on Agriculture (NCA, 1976).
• The objectives of social forestry adopted by the NCA were to fulfill the basic and economic needs of the community.
• The scope of social forestry defined by the NCA included farm forestry, community woodlots and reforestation in degraded lands. By mid-1980, the concept of social forestry was firmly established as forestry of the people, by the people and for the people.
  

Social forestry includes within its scope the following:

a) Farm Forestry: Farm forestry is the practice of forestry on farms in the form of raising rows of tree on bunds or boundaries of field and individual trees in private agriculture land as well as creation of wind breaks, which are protective vegetal screens created round a farm or an orchard by raising one or two lines of trees fairly close with shrubs in between.
b) Extension Forestry: Extension forestry is the practice of forestry in areas devoid of tree growth and other vegetation and situated in places away from the conventional forest areas with the object of increasing the area under tree growth. It includes within its scope the following:

i. Mixed forestry: Mixed forestry is practice of forestry for raising fodder grass with scattered fodder trees, fruit trees and fuel-wood trees on suitable waste lands, panchayat land and village commons land.
ii. Shelterbelts: Shelterbelts is defined as ‘a belt of trees and/or shrubs maintained for the purpose of shelter from wind, sun, snow-drift, etc. they are generally more extensive than the wind-breaks covering areas larger than a single farm and sometimes whole regions on a planned pattern.’ Or Shelterbelt is wide belt of tree, shrubs and grasses which goes right across the land at right angle to the direction of prevailing wind in order to

• Reduce wind velocity
• Deflect wind current
• Protect public properly in leeward side

iii. Wind breaks: It is a protective planting around a garden, a farm or a field to protect it against strong winds. It usually consists of 2-3 rows of trees or shrubs, spaced at 0.5 m to 2.5 m apart, depending on the species.
iv. Linear Strip Plantation: These are plantations of fast-growing species on linear strips of land on the sides of public roads, canals and railway lines.

c) Community Woodlots: The community woodlots, consists of plantations of fuelwood species on community village lands, with intended objective of increasing a villager’s access to fuel wood, fruits and fodder.

d) Rehabilitation of Degraded Forests

As a third component, the interim report of the NCA, 1976 suggested reforestation of degraded forests to achieve the following objectives:

• To grow short rotation fuel and timber species for meeting the requirements.
• To organize fuelwood supplies at reasonable rates, this will prevent pilferage from neighbouring commercial forests.
• To tie up degraded forest areas with the nearby rural and semi-urban centers for their requirements of fuelwood.
• To provide employment.
• To rehabilitate the degraded forests in the process.
  

e) Recreation Forestry: Recreation forestry is the practice of forestry with the object of raising avenue/flowering trees and shrubs mainly to serve as recreation forests for the urban and rural population. This type of forestry is also known as Aesthetic forestry which is defined as the practice of forestry with the object of developing or maintaining a forest of high scenic value.

Distinction between Social Forestry and Agroforestry

Social Forestry	Agroforestry
1. Social forestry is a plantation made on lands outside conventional forest areas for the benefit of rural and urban communities, with objectives to supply fuel wood to divert cow dung from village hearths to village fields, small timber for housing and agricultural implements and fodder for cattle of the rural population, protection of agriculture by creation of diverse ecosystem and arresting wind and water erosion, provide raw material for village cottage industries and improve scenic value in rural and urban areas.	1. Agroforestry is a sustainable land management system that increases the overall production, combines agricultural crops, tree crops and forest plants and/or animals simultaneously or sequentially, and applies management practices that are compatible with the cultural patterns of the local population.
2. It is thus the forestry of the people, by the people and for the people.	2. It is a system which is rather localized in its concept for managing the unit of land for maximizes production of agricultural crop and forest trees complimentary with each other.
3. Planting of trees on massive scale is done on vacant land community land, roadside railway track and even degraded reserve forest. Helps to eradicate poverty especially among land less and marginal rural people by providing them job potential.	3. Agroforestry is practiced mostly in farmers’ field/own land.
4. Mainly trees and shrubs are to be used to harvest multiple products.	4. It involves integration of two or more than two components ion the same unit of land.
5. Social forestry is primarily a government based programme that aims to increase the forest area by rehabilitating wastelands while producing biomass both for industrial and local uses.	5. Agroforestry involves the rural awakening towards self sufficiency by producing maximum biomass per unit area, fulfilling then needs of food, fodder and fuelwood etc..