Abstract

Agroforestry systems are fundamental features of the rural landscape of the Indian state of Kerala. Yet these mixed species systems are increasingly being replaced by monocultures. This paper explores how public policies on land tenure, agriculture, forestry and tree growing on private lands have interacted with farmer preferences in shaping land use dynamics and agroforestry practices. It argues that not only is there no specific policy for agroforestry in Kerala, but also that the existing sectoral policies of land tenure, agriculture, and forestry contributed to promoting plantation crops, even among marginal farmers. Forest policies, which impose restrictions on timber extraction from farmers' fields under the garb of protecting natural forests, have often acted as a disincentive to maintaining tree-based mixed production systems on farmlands. The paper argues that public policies interact with farmers' preferences in determining land use practices.

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Publisher Full Text

Authors

Guillerme S, Kumar BM, Menon A, Hinnewinkel C, Maire E, Santhoshkumar AV

Institution

UMR 5602--CNRS, GEODE (Geography of the Environment), Université Toulouse II, 5 Allées Antonio Machado 31058, Toulouse cedex 9, France. sylvie.guillerme@univ-tlse2.fr

Source

Environmental management 48:2 2011 Aug pg 351-64

MeSH

Agriculture
Conservation of Natural Resources
Forestry
Geography
India
Public Policy

Pub Type(s)

Journal Article
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Language

eng

PubMed ID

21461959