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Land Use Patterns and the Scale of Adoption of Agroforestry in the Rural Landscapes of Padma Floodplain in Bangladesh

S.A. RAHMAN
Research Fellow, Dept. of Sociology, University of Rajshahi, Rajshahi 6205, Bangladesh.

M.H. IMAM
Professor, Dept. of Sociology, University of Rajshahi, Rajshahi 6205, Bangladesh;

S.W. WACHIRA
Organization Chairperson, Mount Kenya Youth Initiative for Ecosystem Restoration, P.O Box 52136-00200, Nairobi, Kenya

K.M. FARHANA
Research Fellow, Institute of Bangladesh Studies (IBS), University of Rajshahi, Rajshahi 6205, Bangladesh.

B. TORRES
Regional Director, Central Amazon Region, Ministry of Environment, P.O Box 15-01-116, Ecuador

D.M.H. KABIR
Senior Assistant Secretary to the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh and PostGraduate Research Fellow, Institute of Bangladesh Studies (IBS), University of Rajshahi, Rajshahi 6205, Bangladesh.

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

This research was conducted in six typical villages of Northern Bangladesh. A sample of 170 farmers was selected. Research indicates that the farmers practising agroforestry own small farms and the income of agroforestry helps them to reduce their poverty, maintain their socio-economic needs and sustain their livelihoods. Agroforestry is not a new concept in the study area. The people have been practicing agroforestry traditionally in the form of home gardens, hedgerows and alley cropping. Homestead agroforestry is an age old practice. Alley cropping and hedgerow agroforestry systems are comparatively new. Yet alley cropping is now most popular and is widely accepted in the study area because of its socio-economic advantages and environmental sustainability.

Keywords: Alley cropping, Boundary planting, Hedgerows, Indigenous knowledge, Socio-economic benefits.

Location: Six villages ‘Samsadipur’, ‘Capasia’, ‘Chak Capasia’, ‘Guabasnia’, ‘Baduria’ and ‘Mirkamari’ of Rajshahi district

Start Date: 00-00-2005

End Date: 00-00-2006

Program Area: Farming System

Commodity: Agroforestry

Objectives:

With an increased rate of deforestation and limitations to the state forestry activities, agroforestry has now assumed a special significance. The practice may be viewed as technology with considerable potential for the reduction of rural poverty. This article is a modest attempt to identify the nature, land use patterns and scale of the adoption of agroforestry in the Padma floodplain of rural Bangladesh.

Methodology:

Six villages ‘Samsadipur’, ‘Capasia’, ‘Chak Capasia’, ‘Guabasnia’, ‘Baduria’ and ‘Mirkamari’ of Rajshahi district in the Padma floodplain in Northern Bangladesh were selected. The river Padma, that drains from the Gangotri Glacier of the Himalayas (located in Uttaranchal, India in a region bordering Tibet) and flows through India and Bangladesh towards the Bay of Bengal, borders this area. The climate is “tropical monsoon” with a maximum mean temperature of about 35º C during the months of April, May, June and July; and a minimum temperature in January of about 10º C. The annual average air humidity is 80% and the annual average rainfall is over 1,400mm. The topography is that of a flood plain with an average elevation some 20m above sea level and loamy soils. The villages were selected for their experience with agroforestry practices in an area where the researchers were familiar with the culture, norms and local language, and had access to data previously collected in the area.

Sample selection Very few farmers were found who were not practising agroforestry in some form or other, but 60 traditional farmers were found and selected in order to determine their reasons for not practising agroforestry. 110 other farmers who were practising agroforestry on various scales and using various patterns were selected purposively to provide as wide a range of information as possible. Data collection and analysis The primary data were collected from July 2005 to January 2006 by: • rapid rural appraisal (RRA) for basic information on the farms; • short structured interviews with the 60 traditional farmers – focusing especially on the reason for non agroforestry system adoption; • structured interviews with the 110 agroforestry farmers – focusing especially on their experience, land use pattern, benefits and reason for agroforestry adoption; • direct observation and • interviews with five groups focussing on species combination and motivation for adopting agroforestry; • interviews with key informants from Government, non-government and public organisations. Secondary data were obtained from statistical yearbooks, local administrative records and various related sources. AGROFORESTRY DEFINED GoI (2001) defined agroforestry as “a sustainable management system for land that increases 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 local population”. World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) defined, “Agroforestry is a dynamic ecologically based, natural resource management system that through the integration of trees in farm and rangeland, diversifies and sustains small holder production for increased social, economic and environmental benefits.”

Agroforestry is a form of multiple cropping which satisfies three basic conditions: (1) there exists at least two plant species that interact biologically, (2) at least one of the plant species is a woody perennial, and (3) at least one of the plant species is managed for forage, annual or perennial crop production. Summarising, agroforestry is a land management system with a woody perennial as one of the components. It optimizes land productivity by involving positive interactions between its components in time and space.

Source of Information: Forests, Trees and Livelihoods, 2008, Vol. 18, pp. 193–207; 1472-8028 $10

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Achievement/Findings:

Farmers in Northern Bangladesh are practising agroforestry traditionally in the form of homegardens (homestead agroforestry) and many have expanded into cropland agroforestry (boundary plantation and alley cropping). Agroforestry is more profitable and less risky, than other agricultural options. Aside from the tree species, the advantage of agroforestry is the early return from non timber crops that are interplanted with the trees. The incentives of agroforestry adoption in this area are: • high income earning supplying an established market, • the influence and assistance from other farmers, NGOs, GO officials, media, • old age tradition, • erosion control and protection, • crop diversification and risk reduction, • suitable use of land and space. The main reasons for some farmers not adopting agroforestry are: • lack of capital, • lack of interest, • lack knowledge on agroforestry systems, • delay in profit earning, • lack of technical assistance, • high risk of crop protection from damage due to some social, economic and natural dangers, • not have suitable land for this cultivation practice, and • unstable market price for agroforestry products. Assuming that people are basically financially motivated, failure to adopt this financially profitable system must be due to lack of capital, knowledge, land, etc. Most of these constraints could be overcome by a gradual adoption – transferring a small area each year from arable crops to agroforestry. As far as the authors can appreciate, the foregoing is likely to apply in many areas where agroforestry is not a new concept, but is practised on only a restricted scale to meet subsistence needs. The large urban population of Bangladesh supports an existing market structure for agroforestry products that, in turn, supports the farmers.

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