Introduction

Biophysical information of those areas for which agroforestry project is going to be designed need to be collected using Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) tools and techniques (See in box) to plan and implement appropriate agroforestry systems for the conservation of natural resources. The main check list for bio-physical and socio-economic information collection are given below:

1. Collect biophysical information

1.1. Biological information

• Flora – Types of vegetation cover, species-the most productive and useful indigenous and exotic trees (timber, fuel wood and fodder species), shrubs and herbs (medicinal hebs, grasses) found in this localities, weeds, crop plants, fruits, vegetables, and endemic plants for agroforestry.
• Macro and micro fauna– Total domestic animals such as cattle, buffalo, goat, sheep, pigs, poultry and wild animals especially destructive, and insects, pests and disease pathogenic organisms etc)
• Problems of weeds and insects, pests and destructive animals such as monkey, pigs etc.

1.2. Physical information

• Soil factors

Information on soil physical properties (texture, structure, depth, drainage, porosity, dryness, erodibility etc), chemical properties (nutrient content, soil pH, organic matter, salinity, cation exchange capacity etc) and biological properties (soil microorganisms), and soil colour and fertility status should be collected.

• Climatic factors

Climatic information on rainfall (amount, monthly distribution), temperature (maximum, minimum and monthly average etc), wind (intensity and direction), catastrophic events (storm and floods, fire frequency, intensity and seasonal occurrence etc) should be collected for designing appropriate agroforestry systems.

• Physiographic factors

Elevation (altitude), exposure (aspect) and slope (gradient), general terrain, location relative to mountain ranges and water bodies etc of the proposed sites should be collected.

• Land use systems

History, present use, human activities of surrounding areas, potential alternate use of land, land capability class, size of farm, land tenure, accessibility and market situation should also be collected.

Traditional and indigenous land use system also investigated. In both traditional and modern society there are many forms of lands. The traditional society had the characteristics of large land and sparse population density, and plentiful cultivable lands. Farmers in Nepal have their own tradition on the ownership and utilization of lands, where trees are integrated with farming systems. Traditional types of lands are 1) rice fields: the fields are flat cultivation land surrounded by borders or bunds to keep water, and are mainly used to grow rice. The fields have been cultivated for a very long time and have been an important source of income generation. Trees are planted on bunds and borders of these fields. Another land is 2) dry fields or bari lands- are flat or slope cultivation land situated on high hills or near the foot of hills, oe plan areas of both Terai and inner Terai also surrounded by borders but to limit soil erosion rather than to hold water. Most of terrace fields are reclaimed from former slopping field. In those fields, the main crops grown are maize, millet, wheat, potatoes, and vegetables in the form of intensively farming. Trees in these lands are planted along terrace bunds, borders and slopes to meet household needs on fodder and forage, fuel wood and timber in some extent.

Additional land is 3) marginal lands or kharbari- generally these lands are only few slopping fields. They are less fertile cultivation lands on the high hills or on the slopes of mountains or plain areas.  People in these lands grow grasses (Khar) and few fodder and timber trees.  There are some 4) gardens. In the gardens, people grow fruit trees, herbs, green vegetables and even fodder, fuel wood and timber trees.

The study of traditional knowledge and technology of farmers regarding their production environment cannot be over emphasized while reviewing the wide variety of application of agroforestry found in tropical, sub-tropical and temperate high lands. The best example of innovative indigenous management technique in high lands agroforestry system includes the following:

• Growing of multi varietal trees along terrace bunds, borders and slopes with agriculture crops.
• Planting of trees and grasses (bamboo) in gullies to conserve soil and to improve productivity of such highly degraded gully lands.
• Multi storey home gardens with shade tolerant under storey crops (ginger, turmeric, colocasia etc).

These traditional farming methods are developed over many generations of trial and error and refinement. Oldeman (1979) reported that indigenous agriculture is the combination of bio-climatic factors, soil, population density and technical ability of the farmers. Study of such traditional and indigenous technology or land use system will promote in better understanding of the system as it helps by diagnosis of the technology and ultimately in designing the appropriate system from these learning on species selection, tree and crop combination and planting techniques etc.

There are some common factors of land use system, which should also be studied before designing new project. These factors are:

• Resources such as land, labour and capital availability at the community or household level.
• Resource use right with respect to lands, trees, animals and water should be well understood.
• Alternative resources such as on farm and off-farm activities should also be understood.
• Management level associated with various production systems should also be studied.
• Performance (yields) in terms of meeting socio-economic priorities and criteria should also be measured.

• Study indigenous Vs introduced technology

An agroforestry system may use

• Indigenous technology that farmers are familiar and such technologies are socially, economically and locally or environmentally adoptable and acceptable.
• Practice that has been modified or improved by farmers or outsiders.
• Practice introduced by outside researchers or extension agents.

Indigenous or existing knowledge and skills on tree and agriculture farming should be the basis for designing new agroforestry interventions. However, many projects introduced new exotic species and technologies, which have following risks:

• Introduced technology may not be socially and economically acceptable to local farmers.
• Introduced technology or species may not be ecologically sound (introduction of Ipil-Ipil on acidic soils because legume species cannot grow well in acidic soils).

Therefore, small scale on farm experiments with farmers should be carried out to test new species and technologies. Performance of such species and technologies should be evaluated before promoting in large scale.

2. Collect socio-economic information

1. Information on total men vs women, different ethnic groups and dalits of areas to whom the project is to be designed should be collected.
2. Education status of the people, and schools, colleges and other educational institutions of the areas should also be collected.
3. Information on health post, road access, and communication should also be collected.
4. Information on rich and poor (based on occupation, land – Khet and Bari and total animals owned by individuals, remittance etc) of the areas should also be collected.
5. Collect the information on socio-economic factors influencing on the promotion of agroforestry practices. These factors are endogenous factors and exogenous factors, which are as follows:

• Endogenous factors- these factors are under the control of individual farmers, which are land, labour and capital. The land potential for agroforestry is usually small in size, labour is abundant, but there is shortage during peak season, and capital interms of cash and credit is very scarce.
• Exogenous factors- these factors are outside the control of the community or individual farmers, which are market structure and support system, extension services (technical, social, health and religious etc), financial institutions and policies (government policies on land use).

1. Data analysis- analyze collected information.

2. Design and redesign of agroforestry system

Farmers should help to design and redesign agroforestry system to overcome the problems of land degradation for the conservation of other natural resources such as soil, water, forest, and soil productivity. The appropriate agroforestry systems for this are as follows:

• Alley cropping with fodder, forage and timber species.
• Multi-species tree garden
• Home garden
• Shelter-belt and wind breaks
• Multipurpose trees on range lands
• Boundary, border, bunds and terrace slope plantation.
• Wood lots of green manure or woody mulch or fodder

3. The Testing and Implementation Stage, in which one or more promising strategies such as fodder, forage, firewood and timber, soil fertility improvement and soil erosion control, arising from the design stage, are examined and evaluated under term conditions to determine their suitability for producing desirable and acceptable changes in the existing farming system.

4. Impact Evaluation and Dissemination Stage, in which the strategies that were identified and screened during the design and testing stages are extended to farmers.