(a) What do you understand by agroforestry? Discuss various types of agroforestry systems in India with the help of examples. (20…

(a) Agroforestry and its systems in India

Agroforestry is a land-use system in which woody perennials are deliberately grown with crops or animals on the same land unit, in spatial or temporal arrangement, with ecological and economic interaction between components (World Agroforestry Centre). Indian systems, classified structurally, include:

Agrisilvicultural (crops with trees): poplar and eucalyptus with wheat or sugarcane in Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh; alley cropping with Leucaena; and boundary plantations or shelterbelts on field bunds and windbreaks, as with Casuarina on the east coast and Acacia nilotica in arid regions.

Silvopastoral (trees with pasture and livestock): Prosopis cineraria (Khejri) with grasses in arid Rajasthan, and fodder-tree systems with Ailanthus, Leucaena and Subabul.

Agrosilvopastoral (crops, trees and animals): Kerala homegardens with coconut, arecanut, spices, fruit trees and livestock, and tribal fallow-linked systems in the North-East.

Other forms: Taungya, in which crops are grown among young forest plantations (teak in Kerala and West Bengal), multipurpose woodlots and aquaforestry.

Benefits are income diversification, fodder and fuelwood, soil and water conservation, and carbon sequestration. The National Agroforestry Policy (2014) and the Sub-Mission on Agroforestry (2016-17, 'Har Med Par Ped') promote tree planting on farms.

(b) Site-Specific Nutrient Management (SSNM)

SSNM supplies nutrients according to the needs of the crop in a particular field, accounting for the soil's indigenous supply, target yield and season, rather than a blanket recommendation. It applies the 4R principle: right source, rate, time and place.

Steps: first, set a target yield from the yield gap and climatic potential; second, estimate indigenous nutrient supply through soil testing, nutrient-omission plots or GIS-based nutrient maps; third, compute N, P and K needs for the target yield (the QUEFTS approach, as in the Nutrient Expert tool) and apply P and K as the balance; fourth, time N dynamically using the Leaf Colour Chart (LCC), SPAD meter or GreenSeeker; fifth, monitor and adjust.

Cereals: in transplanted rice, apply basal P and K and top-dress about 25-30 kg N/ha whenever LCC readings fall below the threshold (4 for most inbreds), with zinc sulphate where deficient. In wheat, apply basal P and K and split N by crop need using GreenSeeker NDVI. In rice-wheat systems, SSNM raises yield and nitrogen-use efficiency and cuts fertiliser cost compared with blanket recommendations. The Soil Health Card (2015) scheme supports the soil-testing step.

(c) International conventions and global initiatives on climate change

The UNFCCC (1992, in force 1994) is the base treaty, guided by 'common but differentiated responsibilities'. The Kyoto Protocol (1997) set binding emission targets for developed countries, and the Paris Agreement (2015) aims to hold warming well below 2°C and pursue 1.5°C through Nationally Determined Contributions, backed by the Green Climate Fund.

Recent steps: the Glasgow Climate Pact (COP26, 2021); the Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture (2017), succeeded in 2022 by the Sharm el-Sheikh joint work on agriculture and food security; the Loss and Damage Fund agreed at COP27 and made operational after COP28; and at COP30 (Belém, 2025) agreement to scale up adaptation finance.

India's commitments include the 'Panchamrit' announced at COP26: 500 GW non-fossil capacity and 50% renewable energy by 2030, a one billion tonne emissions cut, a lower carbon-intensity target and net zero by 2070. It also leads the International Solar Alliance and the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure.