AGROFORESTRY PRACTICES AND ITS CONTRIBUTION TO COMBAT CLIMATE CHANGE AT TEHSIL MIRANSHAH, NORTH WAZIRISTAN

Considering the large amounts of carbon accumulated as biomass in plantations, extensive planting of trees, which possess large canopies that are able to capture Carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the atmosphere, could help mitigate the rising atmospheric CO₂ levels. Many studies have been reported in assessing the importance of trees in combating climatic changes. However, assessing the importance of agro forestry practices, and its contribution to combat climatic change is lacking. This study planned to evaluate the potential of agroforestry practices and its contribution to combat climate change at Tehsil Miranshah, North Waziristan, Pakistan. Two kind of sampling methodology i.e. 1) Questionnaire based (collection of information with respect to agroforestry practices) and 2) Multistage stratified random sampling for estimating carbon content. In the study area we found seven species belonging to different families i.e. Salix tetrasperma belongs to family Saliceae, Moras alba belongs to Moraceae, Populas ciliata belongs to family Saliceae, Eacalyptus camaldulensis belongs to family Myrtaceae, Ziziphus maritiana belongs to family Rhamnacea, Ailanthus altissama belongs to family Simaroubaceae, Dilbargia sisso belongs to family Fabaceae. Among them mulberry was used maximum by farmers due to its importance in both agroforestry and fruit purposes. Willow and poplar were also used by most farmers to improve agroforestry practices. Two agroforestry practices were applied by farmers i.e. agrisilviculture and silvopasture. We found that 73% farmers practiced agrisilviculture while 27% farmer used silvopasture practice. The maximum use of agrisilviculture practice was because that area is more suitable for cultivation of trees and agriculture fields. There was minimum use of silvopasture practice because of having no suitable grazing land for cattles. That’s why most of the farmers preferred agrisilviculture practice. The area under agroforestry system was 17373 ha which is 3.66% of the total district area. The main reason for minimum percentage of agriculture is mismanagement of land, another cause is floods, and no proper drainage for agriculture land. The maximum quantity of carbon stock by agrisilviculture system was noted 1.328 tons ha^-1, and minimum quantity of carbon stock per hectare was 0.973 while the normal carbon stock per hectare was 1.17 tons hec^-1. In the silvipastoral system maximum quantity of carbon stored by the silvipasotoral system was 0.804 tons ha^-1 and lowest carbon storage capacity was 0.587 while the normal carbon stocks stored by silvipastoral system were 0.686 tons hec^{- 1}. The study will be useful for understanding the importance of agroforestry practices and its contribution to combat climate change at local and regional scale studies.

Author(s): Junaid Hassan, Aamir Saleem and Sami Ullah

Abstract | Full-Text | PDF

Share This Article