Wood production potential of trees in traditional agroforestry in eastern Chhattisgarh: implication for wood on every farm

Abstract

Agroforestry can improve wood production function and environmental quality and is a most effective measure of climate change. The paper deals, the wood production potential of trees occurring in agroforestry practices of the Chhattisgarh plain zone, India. We determined the species structure and the wood production by laying out 60 sample plots of 0.41 ha size of three districts, Bilaspur, Janjgir-Champa, and Mungeli of Chhattisgarh State. Total 17 tree species encountered on crop fields in Bilaspur, ten species in Janjgir-Champa, and four species in  Mungeli districts. The most abundant trees species across districts was Butea monosperma (Lam) (27.19%), followed by Acacia nilotica (L.) (18.2%), Terminalia arjuna (Roxb.) (15.51%, and Albizia procera (L.) (8.33%). The mean wood production was maximum (13.37t ha -1 ) in Bilaspur  and minimum (6.54t ha -1 ) in Janjgir-Champa. The potential wood production in agroforestry trees is estimated at 3.09 million tons for Bilaspur district and 1.7 million tons for Janjgir-Champa district if all the farmers maintain the level of the current trees in their farms. The farmers may
be attracted to agroforestry through the market and industrial support, which eventually improves the wood production and would help in mitigating the climate change function.