Economic Feasibility of Gamhar Based Agroforestry Systems in Jharkhand

An agroforestry field trial was carried out during 2020-21 at agroforestry farm of Faculty of Forestry in Birsa Agricultural University, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India. The study aimed to evaluate the performances of two years old Gamhar (Gmelina arborea) trees intercropped with leguminous crops viz. Pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan), Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) and Urad (Vigna mungo) in agroforestry system as well as sole cropping. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design (RBD) with seven treatments viz. T₁ (G. arborea + C. cajan), T₂ (G. arborea + V. unguiculata), T₃ (G. arborea + V. mungo), T₄ (Sole G. arborea), T₅ (Sole C. cajan), T₆ (Sole V. unguiculata) and T₇ (Sole V. mungo) replicated thrice. Economic feasibility of Gamhar based agroforestry system was evaluated with the following parameters; Cost of cultivation (aec-9-3-007-inline024.jpg ha^-1), Gross return (aec-9-3-007-inline025.jpg ha^-1), Net return (aec-9-3-007-inline026.jpg ha^-1), Benefit Cost Ratio (BCR) and Land Equivalent Ratio. Economic analysis revealed that the system fetches more economic worth under agroforestry as compared to sole cropping. The highest annual gross return (aec-9-3-007-inline027.jpg 62176 ha^-1), net return (aec-9-3-007-inline028.jpg 36808 ha^-1), B:C ratio (2.45) and Land equivalent ratio (2.32) of the system were obtained under T₁ (G. arborea + C. cajan). Thus, the study indicated that G. arborea + C. cajan agroforestry systems was found to be most profitable and economically viable option for the farmers of Jharkhand in order to improve their income and uplifting their livelihood status.