Contribution of agroforestry in farmers’ livelihood and its impact on natural forest in northern areas of Pakistan

Abstract

Agri-silicultural system is in vogue for livelihood under prevailing biophysical limitations of the environment in northern areas of Pakistan. Therefore, to make the farmers realise the significance of agroforestry system and to analyse its income, agro ecological effect on agroforestry income of farmers a study was carried out in two villages of two different agro ecological zones of northern areas in Pakistan; Jalalabad and Bagrot valley. A total number of 120 households were randomly selected for survey and data collection. The study revealed that there was significant difference in agroforestry income in the two agro ecological zones. The double cropping zone has more agroforestry income when compared with the single cropping zone. The agroforestry income and cultivated land had linear relationship such that with the increase of farm size, agroforestry income increased. It was observed that, agroforestry increased the production of tree components on farmland and minimised the dependency on natural forest for firewood and timber.

Key words: Agroforestry income, agro ecological zones, double cropping area, farm size, single cropping area.