Bio-economic Appraisal of Traditional Agroforestry Systems Prevalent in Valsad district, Gujarat

The present investigation was carried out in the year 2012–2013, in Valsad district of Gujarat. In total three major agroforestry systems (AF) i.e. agri-silviculture (AS), agri-horticulture (AH) and horti-pasture (HP) were found. The system types were teak + paddy, teak + sugarcane, teak + banana and teak + okra; mango + paddy, mango + banana, and mango + chili and mango + Maize and Mango + Juwar under major AF systems AS, AH and HP, respectively. The timber yield (20 year old teak trees) was 3 maximum (43.92 m³ ha⁻¹) under AS system (Teak + rice) followed by teak + banana system type. The economic yield of mango was recorded 15, 14.82 and 6.57 tha under AH (Mango + banana), HP (Mango + sorghum and Mango + maize system), respectively. Among intercrops under different AF systems, the highest economic yield was of sugarcane under teak + sugarcane AS system (55.36 tha⁻¹) followed by maize and sorghum under two HP system types i.e. mango + maize and mango + sorghum. The-1 maximum total economic yield (55.36 tha) was recorded under teak + sugarcane system followed by mango + sorghum and mango + banana with values to the tune of 39.07 and 33.72 tha⁻¹, respectively. The total net returns accrued highest `6, 96, 678 ha <sup>−1</sup> from Mango + Banana followed by system type Mango + Sorghum with net returns to the tune of `5, 95, 717 ha⁻¹. The net returns from woody component i.e. Teak and Mango, comprising different tree crop combinations, were highest from Mango fruit yield under Mango + Banana.