Fruit based agroforestry systems - potential means for sustaining carbon sequestration, improving soil health and diet of community in red and lateritic zone of West Bengal, India

Abstract

Fruit-based agroforestry systems (AFS) can assure food security towards Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and improvement in carbon sequestration, soil qualities of low-fertile degraded land. Those were revealed through observations on farmers’ practices, literature reviews and results from different agroforestry arrangements of mango with gamhar and eucalyptus; and sweet orange with gamhar for two years (2017-18 to 2018-19) of alley cropping with pigeon pea, green gram, cowpea and toria in ongoing AF experiments at Regional Research Station (Red & Lateritic Zone), Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Jhargram, West Bengal, India. Total carbon stock as well as potential food energy production were higher in AFS than either in sole silvi tree, fruit tree or plots under alley crops, because of better performances of all tree and crop components in AFS. Mango with eucalyptus-based AFS gave higher carbon stock (62.33 t ha-1 yr-1) including improvement in degraded acidic soil pH (6.20%), SOC (11.86%), available N (9.09%), available P (13.97%), available K (11.64%) contents in soil. In that way, fruit-based agroforestry systems can be used as a viable alternative land use to improve soil health, diet and livelihood security even of resource-poor farm families throughout the year, especially during their impoverished needy times in a year.