Inventory and Composition of Prevalent Agroforestry Systems of Kashmir Himalaya

Agroforestry, which is the inclusion of woody perennials in farming systems, has been practiced as traditional land use and livelihood option in Jammu and Kashmir state of India since time immemorial. In the present investigation, Ganderbal district of Kashmir valley was selected with the objective to study the indigenous and prevalent agroforestry systems. The geographical area of the district is 39304 hectare, under which paddy is grown at about 8600 ha, wheat 50 ha, pulses 600 ha vegetables 1100 ha, fodder 3429 ha, oil seeds 3727 ha area. The cropping pattern is (paddy, maize, vegetables, and pulses) in kharif and oil seeds, oats, wheat and vegetables in rabi. Agroforestry systems have been classified according to the components present – trees with crops are referred to as silvoarable or agrisilvisulture, trees and pasture as silvopastoral, fruit trees and crops as horti-agriculture, fruit trees with pasture as hortipastoral and trees with crops and animals as agro-silvopastoral. A total of eight agroforestry systems, including, home gardens, horti-agriculture, boundary plantation, horti-silvi-pasture, horti-silviculture, horti-silvi-agriculture, silvopastoral and hortipastoral systems were reported from the study area. Among the woody perennials, the highest preference was for fruit-yielding tree species.