Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-01T06:08:31.317Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Man and Forests: A Case-study from the Dry Tropics of India

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2009

V.P. Singh  and
J.S. Singh
V.P. Singh
Affiliation:
Research Associate, MOEn*-Project, Department of Botany, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi 221005, India.
J.S. Singh
Affiliation:
Head, Department of Botany, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi 221005, India.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The present study analyses the energy-budget of ‘village ecosystems’ in a dry tropical environment. These systems depend to a great extent on the surrounding natural forest/savanna ecosystems. Accordingly the objectives of the study were to quantify (i) the energy efficiency of rain-fed agriculture at the ecosystem level, and (ii) the indirect impact of agricultural activity on the surrounding forest/savanna ecosystems.

Agronomic output from farming is not sufficient to meet the food-energy requirements of the villagers, hence 27.0 to 51.0% of the requirement is met from outside markets. Operation of the agro-ecosystems involved requires a considerable amount of subsidy from the surrounding forest/savanna ecosystems in terms of fodder and fuel-wood. About 81 to 100% of the fuel needs, and 80–87% of the fodder needs, are met from the natural forest/savanna ecosystems. Thus, for each unit of energy obtained in agronomic yield (including milk), 3.1 units of energy are expended from the surrounding natural ecosystems in the form of fodder and fuel-wood.

The erratic and ill-distributed nature of monsoon rains results in moisture deficit which affects the crop production in dry-land farming, causing partial or total failure of the crops. For achieving increased and stable agronomic production under rain-fed conditions, improved dry-land farming techniques have to be applied. Some of these techniques are: (1) introduction of crops and varieties that would be capable of maturing in a period of 90–100 days, and adequate use of appropriate fertilizers; (2) planned rain-water management including storage of surface runoff; and (3) practices of intercropping with crops of longer duration than those currently grown, having slow growth-rates in the early part of their life-cycles.

Type
Main Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 16 , Issue 2 , Summer 1989 , pp. 129 - 136
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 1989

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bowonder, B., Prasad, V.V.R. & Prasad, S. (1987). Fuelwood consumption in the Hyderabad metropolitan area. Landscape and Urban Planning, 14(1), pp. 31–44.Google Scholar
Jha, C.S., Tiwari, A.K. & Singh, J.S. (1988). Land-use and forest cover. Pp. 62–66 in Environmental Degradation of Obra-Renukoot-Singrauli Area and its Impact on Natural and Derived Ecosystems (Ed. Singh, J.S.). Technical Report. MOEn (14/167/84-MAB/EN-2/RE), Department of Botany, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India: 137 pp.Google Scholar
Mitchell, R. (1979). The Analysis of Indian Agro-ecosystems, Interprint, New Delhi, India: 180 pp.Google Scholar
Pandey, G.P. (1985). Effects of gaseous hydrogen fluoride on leaves of Terminalia tomentosa and Buchanania lanzan trees. Environmental Pollution, 37A, pp. 323–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pandey, U. & Singh, J.S. (1984 a). Energy-flow relationships between agro- and forest ecosystems in Central Himalaya. Environmental Conservation, 11(1), pp. 45–53, 7 figs.Google Scholar
Pandey, U. & Singh, J.S. (1984 b). Energetics of hill agro-ecosystems: A case study from Central Himalaya. Agricultural Systems, 13, pp. 83–95.Google Scholar
Singh, J.S., Pandey, U. & Tiwari, A.K. (1984). Man and Forests: A Central Himalayan case-study. Ambio, 13(2), pp. 80–7, 5 figs.Google Scholar
Singh, S.N. & Rao, D.N. (1980). Growth responses of Wheat plants to cement dust-polluted environment. Proc. Ind. Natl Sci. Acad., B46 (3), pp. 325–9.Google Scholar