Experiences in Developing a Village Agroforestry Project in Garhwal Himalaya, India

SUMMARY A short-term pilot project was initiated to demonstrate agroforestry on rainfed agricultural and abandoned terraced lands at Sumari village in Garhwal Himalaya. The aim was to involve local people and to seek their help and cooperation in raising multi-purpose trees in their own fields to meet their requirements for fuel, food and small timber. Nineteen multi-purpose tree species, most of them native, were selected. The project commenced in July, 1989 but could not be completed because of local problems. This paper describes in detail the results obtained and experiences gained in the two years of the project and analyses the reasons for its failure.