Critical Analysis of Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration in Agrarian Lands in the Semi-arid Tropics of Peninsular India

In nature, forests perpetuate themselves through natural regeneration, largely by self-sown seeds, through the process of secondary succession on degraded or deforested land, and more or less in a similar way, perennial vegetation regeneration occurs on croplands, maybe less vigorously. Traditionally, farmers manage such natural regeneration on their cropland for economic (food, fodder, fuelwood, timber) and ecological benefits (shade, protection, and soil conservation). However, the retention of trees on the farmland by the farmer is influenced by heterogenic factors (landholding size, climate and biophysical factors, and utility of the species). The present investigation on farmer-managed natural regeneration (FMNR) under the rainfed agroecosystem of peninsular India revealed a lot of variability. There were as many as 19 tree species belonging to 17 genera and 12 families, and most of them were indigenous (94.74%) to the region. Of these, eight were edible fruit bearers, six were fodder-yielding, and the remaining five were timber tree species. Further, neem (Azadirachta indica) was the dominant tree species (7.88 ha-1), followed by babul (Acacia nilotica), desert mesquite (Prosopis juliflora), ber (Ziziphus mauritiana), and morinda (Morinda pubescens). Most of these trees were located on the boundary (48.75%), and the remaining mostly occurred on the bunds (38.33%), while a few (12.92%) were found scattered over the farmland. Significantly higher species density (mean number of species) and tree density (trees per ha) were observed with large farmers (holding size > 4 ha) (4.42 and 28.23, respectively), followed by medium farmers (holding size 2–4 ha), while significantly lower species density and tree density were observed with small farmers (holding size < 2.0 ha) (3.39 no. and 9.61ha-1, respectively), productive land being a constraint with smallholders. Similarly, significantly higher species density and tree density occurred on the boundary of the farmland (4.00 no. and 18.9 ha-1, respectively), followed by bund-oriented trees. Similarly, significantly lower species density and tree density were observed among the scattered plantations of the farmland (2.87 no. and 6.48 ha-1, respectively). However, there were no significant differences among the villages with species and tree density. In all, retention of species and density were largely influenced by the size of landholding, mostly in untilled areas, and the retention depended on the utility and characteristics of the species. The tree population on the boundary of the farmland mostly comprised thorny species, probably for protection from stray animals. Further, the predominance of neem trees in the study was attributed to their adaptability to the prevailing environment, multiple utility, and regeneration characteristics, besides their easy dispersal by birds. Finally, it is suggested to conserve a few species such as Wrightia tinctoria, Acacia ferruginea, Cordia dichotoma, Balanites roxburghii, Bauhinia racemose, and Ficus glomerate for their ecosystem services.