Improving Livelihood Through Agroforestry in Hot Arid Region

Abstract

According to conservative estimates, arid zones and their advances affect around 600 million people directly or indirectly. Desertification or land degradation processes represent a struggle in which man and land are engaged. It must be admitted that man himself or the increase of his population and of his livestock contribute to the expansion of desertification or land degradation processes. And yet, he suffers the worst consequence of such processes by having to be satisfied with left over land. The arid zones of USA, Arabian peninsula, some central Asian and middle-east, countries, Australia and other petroleum rich countries meet out their domestic energy need through petroleum products and natural gas, however, contrary to this, in arid regions of India, woody vegetation resources form the main sources of fuel, besides, contributing to requirement of small timber and fencing material rural folk in this principal hot arid region of the country have been practising arable cropping in association with scattered trees on crop fields since time in memorial. As most trees are drought resistant, these are still able to provide fuel, fodder and other products when arable crops fail due to drought which is a common feature in the region. In fact, multipurpose trees in agroforestry systems provide a rational formula for drylands. In hot arid regions trees on farmlands are the organisms with an ecological investment strategy. Matter and energy are immobilized in long lived trees and majority of this accumulated production is harvested at longer interval than in case of arable crops, which is often very important from food security point of view.