Multifunctional agroforestry systems in India for livelihoods

Agroforestry is emerging as a major land use activity in the country after agriculture and forestry. Traditional resource management adaptations such as agroforestry systems may potentially provide options for improvement in livelihoods through simultaneous production of food, fodder and firewood as well as mitigation of the impact of climate change. Land-use options that increase resilience and reduce vulnerability of contemporary societies are fundamental to livelihoods improvement and adaptation to environmental change. The multifunctional agroforestry systems in tropical region offer innumerable ecological benefits such as carbon sequestration, mitigation of climate change, enhancing soil fertility and water use efficiency, biodiversity conservation, biological pest control, sustainable land use, shelterbelt and windbreaks, microclimate amelioration, breaking the poverty and food insecurity circle, caveats and clarifications. To promote well-being of the society, management of multifunctional agroforestry need to be strengthened by domestication of useful species and crafting market regimes for the products derived from agroforestry systems. Strategy for using appropriate agroforestry systems to facilitate convergence of the synergistic techniques has been propounded for resurgence of sustainable rural livelihoods through natural resource resilience. Millions of farmers are dependent on agroforestry farming systems as a way of increasing and sustaining agricultural productivity, as a source of essential food, fuel wood, fodder and building materials and as a supplementary source of income that buffers instability in agricultural income. As forest resources have become increasing scarce, poor small farmers have become more dependent on agroforestry systems to sustain their livelihoods. The recommendation for innovative Agro forestry is expected to be an incredible cost-effective option to boost the rural livelihoods of India, which suffer a lot due to multidimensional setbacks.