Traditional Agroforestry Systems of Northeast India
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plant/crop production. The horti-silvi-pastoral system recorded the highest costbenefit ratio, while the lowest was in the agri-horti-silvicultural system. Involvement
of female members and low input are the important attributes of high net returns
in the horti-silvi-pastoral system (Deb et al. 2009). Conversely, illiteracy and noninvolvement of female members were responsible for lower net returns and less profit
(%) in the bamboo based silvicultural system though the landholding size was large.
Further, the ‘Nyishi’ family size is too large (as a result of polygamy) to sustain
with the yield (Deb et al. 2009) and hence the cost-benefit ratio goes almost hand
to mouth (1:1). Chakraborty et al. (2015) reported that the mean yearly income in
cropland agroforestry income is higher than non-agricultural cropland system. The
traditional agroforestry practices also generate employment opportunities to those
unemployed people, the activities such as cleaning, pruning, weeding, plucking, binding and counting. Those farmers who had more land use system had to employed
8–15 labours per day especially during harvesting period. The wages amount for
employment differs between male and female labours for carrying out these works.
Male labours carried out physically and specialized task including plucking, pruning and even for transported to the main area especially in some inaccessible areas
where there are no proper roads for vehicles. But for female they are engaged in light
work like weeding, mulching, and collecting the products. Some villages the farmers
owned livestock farming (mainly poultry, cattle) but this is for minor importance.
Some people engaged themselves in other business works as contractor and other
exporter trade. The people of both the states of Northeast India have tremendous
knowledge to use the natural resources. They collected processes and sells a large
variety of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) which include medicinal and aromatic
plants (MAPs), bamboo, honey, mushrooms, nuts, tubers, edible worms, insects and
leafy vegetables from the forests to fulfil their needs. In Assam, betel leaf is sold to
local vendors and the remaining left over is consumed by the family members. Betel
leaf is traditionally consumed with slice of areca nut and a thin coating of lime by
people of Northeast India.
4 Soil in Different Traditional Agroforestry Systems
Soil conservation is one of the primary benefits of traditional agroforestry systems.
The presence of woody perennial in traditional agroforestry system may affect several
biophysical and biochemical processes that determine the health of the soil substrate.
Soil is the most important natural resources that provide base and support to store
water and nutrients required for the growth and development of vegetation, hence, it is
the medium of all plants productivity. The soil nutrient status of different agricultural
systems was studied in above mentioned agroforestry systems of northeast India, and
it was found that all the traditional agroforestry systems had favourable soil physical
properties through organic matter maintenance (Table 3). The available nitrogen (N)
and phosphorous (P) contents of soil in agroforestry site was maximum in Agrihorti-silvi-pisci culture system and this might be due to good quality vegetation and
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plant/crop production. The horti-silvi-pastoral system recorded the highest costbenefit ratio, while the lowest was in the agri-horti-silvicultural system. Involvement
of female members and low input are the important attributes of high net returns
in the horti-silvi-pastoral system (Deb et al. 2009). Conversely, illiteracy and noninvolvement of female members were responsible for lower net returns and less profit
(%) in the bamboo based silvicultural system though the landholding size was large.
Further, the ‘Nyishi’ family size is too large (as a result of polygamy) to sustain
with the yield (Deb et al. 2009) and hence the cost-benefit ratio goes almost hand
to mouth (1:1). Chakraborty et al. (2015) reported that the mean yearly income in
cropland agroforestry income is higher than non-agricultural cropland system. The
traditional agroforestry practices also generate employment opportunities to those
unemployed people, the activities such as cleaning, pruning, weeding, plucking, binding and counting. Those farmers who had more land use system had to employed
8–15 labours per day especially during harvesting period. The wages amount for
employment differs between male and female labours for carrying out these works.
Male labours carried out physically and specialized task including plucking, pruning and even for transported to the main area especially in some inaccessible areas
where there are no proper roads for vehicles. But for female they are engaged in light
work like weeding, mulching, and collecting the products. Some villages the farmers
owned livestock farming (mainly poultry, cattle) but this is for minor importance.
Some people engaged themselves in other business works as contractor and other
exporter trade. The people of both the states of Northeast India have tremendous
knowledge to use the natural resources. They collected processes and sells a large
variety of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) which include medicinal and aromatic
plants (MAPs), bamboo, honey, mushrooms, nuts, tubers, edible worms, insects and
leafy vegetables from the forests to fulfil their needs. In Assam, betel leaf is sold to
local vendors and the remaining left over is consumed by the family members. Betel
leaf is traditionally consumed with slice of areca nut and a thin coating of lime by
people of Northeast India.
4 Soil in Different Traditional Agroforestry Systems
Soil conservation is one of the primary benefits of traditional agroforestry systems.
The presence of woody perennial in traditional agroforestry system may affect several
biophysical and biochemical processes that determine the health of the soil substrate.
Soil is the most important natural resources that provide base and support to store
water and nutrients required for the growth and development of vegetation, hence, it is
the medium of all plants productivity. The soil nutrient status of different agricultural
systems was studied in above mentioned agroforestry systems of northeast India, and
it was found that all the traditional agroforestry systems had favourable soil physical
properties through organic matter maintenance (Table 3). The available nitrogen (N)
and phosphorous (P) contents of soil in agroforestry site was maximum in Agrihorti-silvi-pisci culture system and this might be due to good quality vegetation and