HOMESTEAD AGROFORESTRY SYSTEMS PRACTICED AT KAMALGANJ UPAZILA OF MOULVIBAZAR DISTRICT

Abstract

This study was conducted at Kamalganj Upazila of Moulvibazar District in Bangladesh during January to September 2015 to observe the diversity of plant species in the homestead area with their stratified arrangement to identify homestead agroforestry practices and to explore their relationships with the selected characteristics of the respondents. Face to face interview was performed with 135 respondents to collect the data with the help of questionnaire. Pearson’s correlation was also used to find out the relationship between the farmers characteristics and plant species diversity. The result demonstrated that a total of 88 plant species, 30 vegetables species, 29 different agroforestry practices and 6 different vertical layers were recorded in the homestead of the study area. Out of different categories of plant species, 40 timber, 25 fruits and 23 medicinal and other plants were recorded. Among the plant species Mango (Mangifera indica), Jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus), Coconut (Cocos nucifera), Papaya (Carica papaya), Neem (Azadirachta indica), Mehogony (Swietenia macrophiylla) and Acasia hybrid (Acacia hybrida) were dominant species. Regarding to different agroforestry practices, a total of 29 different combinations were observed in the study area. Total six vertical layer was identified as (S = > 1.0 m, S = 1.1-3.0 m, S = 3.1-5.0 m, S = 5.1-7.0 m, S = 7.1-9 m and S 1 2 3 4 5 6 = > 9.0 m). Eight different characteristics of the farmers namely; educations, farm size, homestead size, annual income, expenditure, savings, knowledge on homestead agroforestry, socio-economic conditions of the respondents showed significant positive relationships with the numbers of diversified plant species, while negative relationship of diversified plant species was observed with age and family size. Higher fruit (0.79-0.99), timber (0.77-0.93) and medicinal (0.77-0.96) plant species diversity was observed in most of the unions of the studied area. Mango Jackfruit, Papaya, Coconut were dominant fruit species. Acasia hybrid, Mehogony were dominant timber species. Neem (Azadirachta indica), Tulsi (Ocimum americanum), Pudina (Mentha spicata), Areca nut (Areca catechu), Bohera (Terminalia bellerica), Bamboo (Bambusa sp) were dominant medicinal and other plant species. Results conclude that homestead agroforestry is a unique area for maintaining both plant diversity and productivity for farmers’ livelihood.