Disadvantages of agroforestry
- Increase tree and agriculture crop competition for light, nutrient and space.
- Plant nutrient deficiency due to the over absorption.
- Amount of plant nutrient needed for crop produced increased due to the tree crop competition.
- Nutrient availability in under storey crops reduced due to the tree shade.
- Habitat to wild animals
- Damage to trees and crops from wild animals.
- Allelopathy effects.
- Damage to trees and crops from cultivation and tree harvest.
- There is huge possibility for soil erosion during tree harvesting in sloppy lands.
- Habitat or alternative hosts for insects, pests and diseases.
Socio-economic disadvantages or limitation
- Require more labour inputs.
- Crop yield reduced due to the tree crop competition.
- Longer period may be required for trees to grow and mature.
- High possibilities for replacing food crops by trees.
- Complexity for practicing agroforestry systems to farmers compared with mono-cropping.
- More financial resource needed to follow agroforestry practice properly.
Strategy to overcome limitation
- Select legume trees with light crown covers to reduce tree crop competition.
- Select deep rooted trees.
- Trees should be planted in wider space.
- Select appropriate under storey crops such as turmeric and ginger in heavy trees shade, cardamom under Uttis trees etc.
- Manage trees adopting following practices:
- Singling, pruning and thinning for timber species
- Lopping, pollarding and coppicing for fodder species.