Abstract:
Agroforerstry (AF) in the
farmlands of Punjab (Pakistan) is a
tradition, but it was practiced without any
proper methodology. From last few years,
AF practices have become popular in
Punjab. Especially in the rural areas woody
biomass is being used as a major source of
energy. The study was designed to examine
the contributions of AF on the socioeconomic
conditions of the farmers in the
central Punjab of Pakistan. District Chiniot
was selected as the universe of study and a
detailed survey was conducted in the three
tehsiles by interviewing 150 randomly
selected farmers with the use of a wellstructured
questionnaire. In addition,
secondary data was also collected from
district agriculture offices. Chi-Square test
was used for quantitative data analysis.
Results showed that farmer’s annual income
and household status was improved after
practicing AF. Reasonably less poor farmers
have more income increase than the poor
farmers due to an extra investment, but
income generation helped poor farmers to
maintain the minimal living standards.
Farmers perceived the advantage of trees
immensely and the large scale farmers
taking this as a genuine source of income. In
adoption of AF, attitude of the farmers was
independent of family size and settlement
period, but was dependent on the occupation
and number of livestock holding. The study
suggested that, in the present financial
scenario of the poor farmers, planting of
suitable tree species with multiple benefits
is an escape way to come out of the vicious
circle of poverty. Along with that
agroforestry can play a vital role in
increasing the vegetation cover in forest
deficient countries. Extension services and
awareness programs should be arranged in the areas where people have negative
attitude about AF practices, because the
cultivated fields are the best places to grow
the tree with crops. Moreover, subsidies and
income generating project should be
launched to motivate people towards AF.
