Agroforestry applies to private agricultural and forest lands and communities. These are highly disturbed, human-dominated land-use systems. Targets include highly-erodible, flood-prone, economically marginal and environmentally sensitive lands. The typical situation is agricultural, where trees are added to create desired benefits. Our goal is to restore essential processes needed for ecosystem health and sustainability, rather than to restore natural ecosystems. Agroforestry provides strong incentives for adoption of conservation practices and alternative land uses, and supports a collaborative watershed analysis approach to management of landscapes containing mixed ownerships, vegetation types and land uses. 

Possible impacts of Agroforestry

·Controlling poverty through increased income by  higher production of agroforestry products for home consumption and market.

· Food security by restoring farm soil fertility for food crops and production of fruits, vegetables, nuts and edible oils.

*    Empowerment to women farmers and other less-advantaged rural residents whose rights to land are insecure through better negotiations.

*  Reducing deforestation and pressure on forest by providing fuelwood grown on farms.

* Increasing buffering capacity of farmers against the effects of global climate change on- farm tree crops and tree cover.

*   Improving soil health of the farm through ameliorated micro-climate and nutrition level.

*    Augmenting accessibility to medicinal trees for cure of common and complex diseases.

 Benefits from Agroforestry 

Environment Benefits: Combining trees with food crops on cropland farms yield certain important environment benefits, both general ecological benefits and specific on-site benefits. The general ecological benefits include:

(i)     Reduction of pressure on forest.

(ii)   More efficient recycling of nutrients by deep-rooted trees on the site.

(iii) Better protection of ecological systems.

(iv)  Reduction of surface run-off, nutrient leaching and soil erosion through impending effect of tree roots and stems of these processes.

(v)   Improvement of microclimate, such as lowering of soil surface temperature and reduction of evaporation of soil moisture through a combination of mulching and shading.

(vi)  Increment in soil nutrients through addition and decomposition of litter-fall

(vii)  Improvement of soil structure through the constant addition of organic matter from decomposed litter.

 Economic Benefits: Agroforestry systems on croplands/farmlands bring significant economic benefits to the farmer, the community, the region or the nation. Such benefits may include:

(i)     Increment in an maintenance of outputs of food, fuelwood, fodder, fertilizer and timber;

(ii)    Reduction in incidence of total crop failure, common to single-cropping or monoculture system; and

(iii)    Increase in levels of farm incomes due to improved and sustained productivity. 

Social Benefits: Besides the economics benefits, social benefits occur from increase in crop and tree product yields and in the sustainability of these products. These benefits include