Key Terms & Concepts — UPSC Mains
Agroforestry
"A land-use system that deliberately integrates trees and shrubs with crops or livestock on the same land for ecological and economic gains"
Agroforestry is a land management approach in which trees and shrubs are grown together with agricultural crops and/or livestock on the same unit of land, either at the same time or in sequence. It combines the productivity of farming with the ecological services of forests, improving soil fertility, sequestering carbon, diversifying farmer incomes and buffering microclimates. India was the first country in the world to adopt a National Agroforestry Policy, in 2014, and agroforestry is now central to schemes promoting tree cover outside forests.
Relevant for GS3 (sustainable agriculture, climate mitigation and adaptation, forestry, doubling farmer incomes) and GS1 (land use). Agroforestry helps India meet its Nationally Determined Contribution to create an additional carbon sink and supports the target of increasing tree and forest cover. It links to the Green Credit Programme and to nutritional and livelihood security in 2026 policy debates.
- 1 Integrates trees with crops (agri-silviculture) or livestock (silvo-pasture) on the same land
- 2 India adopted the world's first National Agroforestry Policy in 2014
- 3 Boosts farm incomes through timber, fruit, fodder and fuelwood while reducing input costs
- 4 Sequesters carbon and contributes to India's NDC additional carbon sink goal
- 5 Improves soil health, checks erosion, recharges groundwater and enhances biodiversity
- 6 Sub-Mission on Agroforestry and the Green Credit Programme incentivise tree planting on farmland
- 7 Challenges include restrictive tree-felling and transit rules, which recent reforms aim to ease
In 2026 India continued to liberalise tree-felling and transit norms for select species to encourage agroforestry on private farmland, helping farmers earn from timber while adding to the additional carbon sink promised under the country's climate pledge.
