by Imagine making one change to a farm field so that it generated building materials, fuel and fodder as well as producing food. At the same time, this change would promote soil health, regulate the micro-climate and support pest-controlled wildlife. In fact, it could even produce a whole other crop.
All these things could be done by planting trees among crops – and not just trees, but also shrubs, palms and bamboo.
This approach to farming is called agroforestry, and experts believe it could improve the sustainability of agriculture around the world. On a large scale, it could help mitigate climate change by storing more carbon on land that can serve yet other purposes. Countries can even count trees planted on farmland towards their reforestation pledges.
There is a lot of scope for planting trees on farms in southern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. But many of these plots are small – on average, less than 2 hectares (or two football fields). Any use of space must really earn it.
So how do we make sure trees work for farmers and the planet? India, where agroforestry has undergone significant changes over the past two decades, provides some insight.
India’s agroforestry experiment
India’s first attempt to get more trees on farms began in 1999 with the Lok Vaniki scheme in Madhya Pradesh, a state in central India. The state government started the scheme to help farmers with degraded land to get additional income from timber and provided them with teak saplings.
The scheme got off to a troubled start. The Indian supreme court banned all tree felling except what is allowed under the forest work plan three years earlier. Before farmers could sell the wood they grew, the government must approve their request to cut the tree.
Farmers were worried about planting something they might not get permission to harvest, and it takes 20 years for teak trees to yield wood. The scheme involved a very difficult process to obtain licenses and high transport costs for small and marginal farmers.
The state responded by exempting certain trees from felling regulations. By 2014, India had a national agroforestry policy that offered saplings and simpler procedures for harvesting and transporting trees. However, the tree cover on budge farms was not. In fact, in the last ten years there has been a significant decline in trees on farms in India, according to a study I contributed.
The decline was shown among the mature trees. At one time these open wells were shaded by these old spindles on farms and kept the water from evaporating in the sun. Now deeper bore wells could be dug, which does not make those trees extinct.
The expansion of mechanized farming placed a premium on treeless fields where tractors and farm vehicles could easily maneuver. Attacks by fungal parasites claimed other trees.
Some farmers were unsentimental. In interviews, many said that they did not see many benefits from trees, which could prevent sunlight from reaching crops. But the decline of native farm trees such as neem, mahua and jamun, once prized for their medicinal oils and nutritious fruits, has threatened rural diets, particularly in the poorest regions.
Trees on farms, not tree farms
While farmland trees declined across India, block plantations increased. These are basically farms that only grow trees.
These plantations mainly consist of fast-growing native trees such as eucalyptus, poplar and casuarina, which are exempt from felling regulations. Attracted by the prospect of generating carbon credits on the international carbon market, and by the demand for wood pulp to make paper, farmers with some of India’s smallest plots tried to block the transfer of their crops to plantations.
When the price of carbon credits fell when the UN’s clean development mechanism collapsed in 2012, these small farmers had little to show for it. A later study confirmed that many people would be better off keeping their land for agriculture.
While there is a growing demand for wood and wood pulp in India, it is likely to favor farmers who can plant in large areas, cover harvesting and transportation costs, and wait for plantation proceeds – a situation that small farmers and resource marginals.
These exotic plantings are no help to the environment either. For example, eucalyptus consumes a lot of water and soil nutrients, making the land less fertile for future cultivation. Its leaves and flowers are less useful to birds than many native trees.
There is a rush around the world to plant more trees on farms without thinking about what farmers will do with the tree in 20 years, or how it might affect crop production. This problem is not unique to India and has been noted elsewhere, including Kenya.
Trees should still be encouraged on farms; preferably native trees beneficial to local diets and medicines. Until now, however, the trend in India and elsewhere has been towards block plantations of exotic trees – a phenomenon driven primarily by the lure of carbon credits.
The focus should be on supporting small and marginal farmers to grow indigenous trees sustainably. Scattered trees of many species on small farms have greater benefits for farmers and the environment than monospecies plantations.
For that to be successful, however, there has to be some way of funding this process. If carbon credit mechanisms can recognize this model of agroforestry and help small farmers plant trees on their cropland, it would be a big change in the right direction.
Don’t have the time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?
Get weekly salvation in your inbox instead. Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environmental editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into one climate issue. Get in touch with the 30,000+ readers who have subscribed so far.
This article from The Conversation is republished under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Dhanapal Govindarajulu does not work for, consult with, own shares in, or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article this, and has not disclosed any relevant connections beyond their academic appointment.
