Restoration of Degraded Soils for Food Production Through Agroforestry

The effect of land degradation is mostly seen on the economically weak peoples because economically weak peoples are more dependent on natural resources. Almost all agroecologies and terrestrial biomes face the problem of land degradation, not only low-income countries but high-income countries as well. In the world, approximately 2 billion ha land is affected by land degradation in many forms of natural occurring and human generated. The main contribution in land degradation is done by water erosion. The world priority is restoration of ecology of ecosystems which are degraded. Agroforestry approaches like several species of fruit trees and forest, arable crops, medicinal crops of high value and forages are used for the rehab of degraded land from eroded soil, mining, deforestation, degradation of rangeland and intensive agriculture. To diversify and intensify farming system, agroforestry can be used through indigenous tree species integration which helps to maintain the sustainability also. The involvement of various integrated farming systems by including horticultural trees and various multipurpose trees helps to build up the soil fertility.