Blowing ten Myths About Agroforestry: Restoring the Productivity of Marginal Dry Regions

I discuss ten myths about why agroforestry systems may or may not work in a particular manner. It is obvious that while blowing these myths I may have caricatured the reality a bit too harshly. The purpose only is to stress that there is no substitute to restoring the place of agro-forestry systems in any scheme of rehabilitating degraded lands in arid and semi-arid regions and other marginal regions. Not only that, even conservation of non-degraded lands would require recognizing the potential of agro-forestry systems. The lack of attention to its role in most watershed programs only highlights the enormous task of educating policy planners lying ahead of us. I also argue that we would not be able to do very much if we do not draw upon indigenous knowledge systems, local cultural and ecological basis of historical evolution of agro-forestry and agro-horticulture systems. The need for strengthening some of the top level land use planning and implementation mechanisms cannot be over stressed. After all certain kinds of changes require greater degree of unlearning at top level than at the lower level. People at grassroots level have known about the importance of the agro-forestry and agro-horticulture systems for a long time. If they have not persisted with it in many areas, reasons must not be traced in their ignorance or ‘improvidence’. The macro-level policies of tenure, harvesting rights, technological back stopping, market incentives etc., will have to be put properly in place. The ten myths discussed in this paper are: 1) Privatization of common lands leads to sustainable agro-forestry based land use, 2) Poor people have shorter time frame and have lesser trees in and around their fields, 3) Poor people need fast growing species because they cannot wait for too long, 4) Agro-forestry can survive entirely through market incentitives, 5) Capital support for undertaking agroforestry is adequate, the basic problem is lack of demand, 6) Agroforestry is a new concept and, therefore, farmers need to be trained and motivated, 7) Agroforestry systems can be designed primarily on the basis of soil physical properties independent local socio-cultural traditions and values, 8) The model of green revolution in wheat and rice can be replicated in the agroforestry systems as well, 9) Viable agroforestry systems require emphasis on ‘Multi-Purpose Tree Species’ (MPTS) and 10) National land use policies and institutional arrangements are robust and conducive for promotion of agroforestry systems in marginal as well as other regions.