Agroforestry suitability mapping of India: geospatial approach based on FAO guidelines

What is it about?

Agroforestry is a system of land management that applies to both farm and forest and attained impor-tance during the 1970 onward, due to the inclination ofthe World Bank and FAO policies, scientific interest inboth intercropping and farming systems, deterioratingfood situation in many areas of the developing world,the increasing spread of tropical deforestation, andecological degradation (Nair 1993).

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Photo by PROJETO CAFÉ GATO-MOURISCO on Unsplash

Photo by PROJETO CAFÉ GATO-MOURISCO on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Agroforestry system has the enormous capacity to achieve social, economic, and environmental goals by optimizing land productivity. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the land potentiality in India for agroforestry based on FAO land suitability criteria utilizing various land, soil, climate, and topographic themes. This was achieved in GIS Domain by integrating various thematic layers scientifically. The analysis of land potentiality in India for agroforestry suitability reveals 32.8% as highly suitable (S1), 40.4% moderately suitable (S2), 11.7% marginally suitable (S3), and 9.1% not suitable (NS). About 52% of land of India is under the cropland category. In addition, it revealed that the 46% of these cropland areas fall into high agroforestry suitable category “S1,” and provide huge opportunity for harnessing agroforestry practices. Furthermore, agroforestry suitability mapping in broad ecosystem and in different agroecological regions will assist various projects in India at the regional level. Such results will also boost the various objectives of the National Agroforestry Policy (2014, http://www.cafri.res.in/NAF_Policy.pdf) and policymakers of India where they need to extend it. The potential of geospatial technology can be exploited in the field of agroforestry for the benefit of rural poor people/farmers by ensuring food and ecological security, resilience in livelihoods, and can sustain extreme weather events such as droughts and climate change impact. Such type of research can be replicated in India at village level (local level) to state level (regional level) utilizing the significant themes which affect the agroforestry suitability.