Dr. Raza Ullah Khan
South Asia is inhibited by about 1.9 billion dwellers, the quarter of world population living on 4.6% landmass (6.9 M km²) making it one of the world most densely populated regions (326 person/km). Besides high population density and other demographic issues, South Asia is experiencing severe climate changes impacts witnessed by increasing temperature and heat waves, rising sea level, cloud burst induced flood and recurring droughts. These issues collectively jeopardise the socioeconomic fabrics of the region and make it both economically and environmentally vulnerable and fragile region.
Greenhouse gases (GHG) emission is one of the most determinant drivers of climate change scenario. According to estimates SA generates as much as 4.3 Gt CO2 eq in total during 2021. IPCC (2014) stated that GHG emissions are responsible for global climate change, and emphasised the need to explore ways & means that could result in mitigation. The largest agrifood system is dominated by rice cultivation, dense livestock, and traditional farming practices like ploughing the land several times, imbalance fertilizer us mostly nitrogen-based fertilizer (116 kg/ha), over irrigation, crop residues burning exacerbated by dry climate and scorching solar radiation are main culprits of GHG emission from agriculture sector.
Amidst these challenges, Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) technologies are one of the most important solution toolkits. The CSA is based on three pillars of sustainability, resilient and mitigation aims to (I) Sustainably improving food security by increasing agricultural productivity and incomes, (ii) Make farms more resilient and adapting to climate change, and (iii) Developing opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Agroforestry stands to be one of the technologies in this toolkit.
Agroforestry is part and parcel of CSA, seeking integration of trees with crop and animal farming systems, encompassing a great diversity of land management systems, making agrifood system more robust and resilient. ICRAF (1982), reported that agroforestry is particularly beneficial for sustaining yields on marginal lands with minimal technological inputs. As a Nature-based solution (NbS), agroforestry has been recognized as an effective coping strategy for climate change and one of the best options to enhance climate resilience. Agroforestry plays a pivotal role in supporting UNs SDGs such as1: No Poverty, 2: Zero Hunger, 3: Climate Action aligning with environmental sustainability with rural prosperity and development.
The land use and land cover map (shown) depict an interesting and unique situation filtered with socioeconomic, demographic and environmental stewardship. For example, Afghanistan with land area of 65,223 thousand ha and $1,201 per capita GDP land have minimal forest cover land of 1-5% in contrast, Bhutan with 0.8 million population covered 72% land with forest illustrating the strong commitment and societal responsibility to resources conservation. Nepal and Sri Lanka, having forest covers of 45% and 29.7% respectively showing importance of forest and biodiversity.
In SA, agroforestry is practiced on nearly one-third of agriculture land and is more likely to contribute 20-60% to farm income through sale of timber, fruit and fodder. Agroforestry contributes to employment by providing year-round work help control seasonal migration of labor to cities and metropolitan maintaining rural-urban demographic balance. Forest along with agriculture and fisheries sector contribute 15.7% share to GDP of SA, ranging from 3% in Maldives to 21.9% in Nepal.
Diversity of Agroforestry in South Asia is based on several biotic and abiotic variables filter through behavioral and socioeconomic priorities. In SA agroforestry systems exists like homestead agroforestry, cropland and multistory agroforestry in Bangladesh, Agri silviculture, silvo horticultural and agro aquaculture systems in Bhutan, home gardens, alley cropping, silvopasture, and multistrata system in India, coastal agroforestry, integrated fish and tree farming and coconut based agroforestry in Maldives, Agrosilvicultural, agrosilvoanimal and Silvopasture systems, Taunga system, SLAT in Nepal, farm forestry, agrisilviculture, shrub based agroforestry in Pakistan, and tea agroforestry, coconut based agroforestry, multi-tier systems and Taungya in Sri Lanka.
SAARC Agriculture Center (SAC), an apex regional center and knowledge hub based in Dhaka, Bangladesh organised a virtual meeting on 23-25 September 2025 to assess the potential role of agroforestry in improvement of rural livelihoods and climate resilient communities in South Asia. The virtual meeting was attended by country representatives and guest speakers from the SAARC region. In a nutshell the meeting identified that keeping in the wake of growing climate change vulnerability, increasing population, and to up left rural economy of the region, the member countries need to take step that could promote Agroforestry in the region. South Asian countries need a comprehensive Agroforestry policy, as most of regional countries lack agroforestry policy, align with National Determined Contributions (NDCs), reform land tenure system to facilitate community inclusive tree plantation drives. Skill enhancement and training at grassroot level and inclusion of agroforestry at school level education, develop agroforestry-based value chain, and enterprises, and incentives farmers for agroforestry practices. The marketing channel for non-timber forest products (NTFP) like honey, dry fruits, mushroom, medicinal herbs need to be further explored to accelerate the impact of NTFP in rural development of SA.
As SA agriculture is dominated by smallholders (0.61 -1.0 ha) South Asia faces compounded risks from climate variability, land and water degradation, and market volatility. Agroforestry is a systems approach that could offers both short-medium- and long-term benefits in South Asia.
The writer is a Senior Program Specialist (NRM) at SAARC Agriculture Centre
