Afforestation on Farm Lands /Cultivated Lands
AFFORESTATION OF FARM LANDS / CULTIVATED LANDS:
General Considerations:
- This is not meant for planting trees instead of agriculture but to help the later
- For instance, in dry areas to reduce the loss of moisture
- However, following purposes are our objectives:
- Conservation of soil moisture
- To stop erosion in arid areas.
- In dry areas, seedlings are killed by sandblasting
- To neutralize the condition for animals and working people in fields
- To obtain additional income
- Trees are necessary against deposition of sand
Site Conditions:
- Comparatively favorable
Choice of Spp:
- Trees should be deciduous
- The line of trees should be like a wall against wind directions
- Taller the trees, better the safety (it height is 10ft it will protect 200ft; if ht is 20ft, then it will protect 400ft)
- Trees should be single because of mixed spp cause management problems
- Trees should be valuable like Dalbergia sissoo in irrigated areas whereas Tamarix spp in dry areas. Acacia spp can also be used
Site Preparation:
- No need as the soil is already worked
Method of Stocking:
- Shisham is raised in pits from Stumps
- Tamarix from root cuttings
- Poplar from second stage nursery
- Trees are planted in belts perpendicular to the wind direction.
- Areas where wind direction is not constant, cross belts serve the same purpose (separated by a distance of 40 times the height of the tree).
- If trees are in a single row, they are Wind Breaks and obviously the Shelter Belts when grown in multiple queues.
Image: Afforestation of Mulberry (Morus alba) on Farm Lands | Mastung Balochistan | September 14, 2016 | Captured by Author
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Naeem Javid Muhammad Hassani is working as Conservator of Forests in Balochistan Forest & Wildlife Department (BFWD). He is the CEO of Tech Urdu (techurdu.net) Forestrypedia (forestrypedia.com), All Pak Notifications (allpaknotifications.com), Essayspedia, etc & their YouTube Channels). He is an Environmentalist, Blogger, YouTuber, Developer & Vlogger.