The tree behind the forest : ecological and economic importance of traditional agroforestry systems and multiple uses of trees in India

Traditionally, agroforestry is extensively practiced in India, in the form of the shifting agriculture, a variety of cereal cropping systems, home garden systems, traditional plantation systems, etc. In recent times, many of these agroforestry systems have started breaking down for a variety of reasons. In many situations, high diversity based agroforestry systems have been replaced by low diversity simplified cash crop systems, and this is questionable in terms of sustainability. The paper argues for traditional ecological knowledge based approaches linked with provision for multiple value non-wood products. It is concluded that gaps in the knowledge of multi-purpose trees (MPTs) and systems functioning needs to be better understood for sustainable agroforestry. (Résumé d'auteur