Existing agroforestry practices and tree species abandons in some selective char and hill ecological zones of Bangladesh

The primary focus of the study was to determine the existing agroforestry practices in char and hill ecosystem of Bangladesh. For charland ecosystem, Mymensingh, Jamalpur and Sherpur district and for hill ecosystem Rangamati and Banderban district were selected. An extensive and indepth field survey was conducted during the period of November 2018 to June 2019 through both open and closed ended semi-structured pre-tested questionnaires. Data were collected from 200 farmers of which 100 farmers from each ecosystem. Total 19 different agroforestry practices were identified from charland ecosystem of which 14 in the homestead areas and 5 in cropland areas. Earleaf Acacia in crop field boundary in the crop land area and Bean-Betelnut combination in homestead area were the top-ranking agroforestry practice found in all studied districts of charland ecosystem. In hill ecosystem 16 different agroforestry practices was identified where Turmeric-ginger-mango combination is relatively popular agroforestry practice in the hill ecosystem. Total 34 tree species in char ecosystem and 32 tree species in hill ecosystem was recorded from five different districts of Bangladesh. The earleaf acacia, mahogany and eucalyptus were popular species for crop field boundary and mango, mahogany, betelnut, raintree, coconut, earleaf acacia, and jackfruit were planted as agroforestry tree species in homestead in the charland areas. Mango, papaya, lychee, wood apple, banana, gamar, mahogany, earleaf acacia, Indian lilac, drumstick and Chebulic Myrobalan found dominant fruit, timbre and medicinal tree species in Banderban and Rangamati.

Key words: Agroforestry practice, tree diversity, charland ecosystem, hill ecosystem.