Planning economic land-use models for dryland farm forestry in India

An economic evaluation of dryland farming was undertaken to demonstrate the impact of trees on the yearly net profits of smallholding farms of eastern India. A number of scenarios were simulated incorporating the existing demand and supply of farm resources, with a view to determining optimal land-use plans. Linear programming (LP) was used for the purpose by applying a best production combination method for different farm groups, having varying resource situations. The analysis indicated scope for an integrated land-use system for small-scale farms in the humid tropics by diversifying agriculture to agroforestry. Appropriate farm forestry packages are recommended on the basis of optimal plans obtained through the LP method.