Present And Future Prospects of Agro-forestry As Perceived By Farmers In Punjab, Pakistan.

Pakistan is included in those countries which have very low forest cover. Forests contribute 2.11% of total land area in Pakistan. Privately or communal ownership, state ownership are the ways in which forests are established. In 2009, the contribution of forests remained 205 thousand cubic meters for firewood and 83 thousand cubic meters for timber. Agroforestry is the growing of trees and shrubs on farm and pasture lands. Agroforestry emerged in late 1970s as an improved and modern land use system. The present study was conducted in Tehsil(Sub-District level) Noor Pur, District Khushab. Out of 10 union councils (2 urban and 8 rural) of TehsilNoor Pur,five rural union councils (each U.C consists of 6-8 villages) were selected through simple random sampling. From each selected union council, two villages were randomly targeted to select the sample respondents. From each selected village, 12 respondents (who practice agroforestry on their farms) were selected as sample for the study, thereby making a total sample of 120 respondents. The data wereobtained through a well-structured interview schedule. The collected data were analyzed with the help of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) for deriving conclusions and formulating recommendations. The results showed that majority of the respondents grewEucalyptus camaldulensis(Local name:Sufeda) on their farmlands to get economic benefits and wanted to increase number of Eucalyptus camaldulensis (sufeda) trees on their farms. On the basis of conclusions it was suggested that the Government should provide incentives and proper training to the farmers practicing agroforestry.