SOCIO ECONOMIC ASSESSMENT OF AGROFORESTRY SYSTEMS : A CASE STUDY OF GURUDASPUR UPAZILA, NATORE

Abstract

A Scientific research experiment was carried out in Gurudaspur upazila under Natore district during July to December 2017 to evaluate the benefits and costs of homestead, cropland and orchard agroforestry systems. A multistage random sampling procedure was followed in this study to select the survey area. A pre-structured questionnaire was used for collecting the benefits and costs data. A total of 60 agroforestry practices including 20 homesteads, 20 orchards and 20 croplands were evaluated. Benefit-cost ratio (BCR) was determined up to ten years by using actual and forecasted income and cost data of three agroforestry systems. The results revealed that the agroforestry systems indicated that the highest cost (TK.86477 per ha) was found in cropland agroforestry and the lowest cost (TK.56265 per ha) was found in homestead agroforestry after ten years. However, the highest income (Tk. 488093 per ha) was found in orchard agroforestry system and the lowest income (Tk. 244606 per ha) was found in homestead agroforestry system. Overall, net income was highest (Tk. 453800 per ha) in orchard agroforestry and lowest was (Tk. 224057 per ha) in homestead agroforestry system. Benefit cost ratio was highest in orchard agroforestry system (14.23) and lowest in cropland agroforestry system (10.37) though the cost was more but benefit was less after 10 years of production cycle. In case of agroforestry practice, highest number (25) of practices was recorded in mixed home garden and lowest number (5) of practices was recorded in mango + litchi based agroforestry practices. Benefit cost analysis of practices revealed that highest cost was recorded in mango+ litchi based agroforestry practices and lowest cost was recorded in mixed home garden based agroforestry practices. It was found that highest income was recorded in mango+ litchi based agroforestry practices and lowest cost was recorded in mixed home garden based agroforestry practices. From the above result the highest net income was recorded in mango+ litchi based agroforestry practices and the lowest net income was recorded in mixed homegarden based agroforestry practices. Similarly, the highest BCR was recorded in mango+ litchi based agroforestry practices and the lowest BCR was recorded in mixed home garden based agroforestry practices. In farm size category highest number (59) of agroforestry growers was recorded in Extra large (≥0.161) category and lowest number (1) was recorded in medium size (0.061-0.100) category. In case of spacing the highest number of practices (58) was recorded in medium category (8ft to 13 ft) and lowest number (2) was recorded in spacing large category (≥ 13 feet). From the study, it can be concluded that orchard agroforestry system is more profitable than homestead and cropland agroforestry systems in Gurudaspur upazila. In case of specific agroforestry practices, mango+ litchi based agroforestry practices was more profitable than others.