Agroforestry Interventions for improving Livelihoods of Subsistence Farm Households in the Hills of Nepal

摘要

Farmers in the hills of Nepal practice subsistence agriculture in miniature, fragmented landholdings. Declining soil fertility has resulted in declining yields of major staple crops and has been a serious land management constraint for sustaining agricultural production in the hills (Schreier et al. 1995; Vaidya et al. 1995). Hill farmers have increasingly been confronted with a dwindling supply of forest fodder due to increasing livestock population, depleting forest resources, and restriction on free fodder col lection and livestock grazing. This paper assesses the potential role of agroforestry in promoting sustainable livelihoods in marginal mountain farms under the agroforestry project initiated by the Nepal Agroforestry Foundation (NAF).