Farmers’ use and preferences of trees in Southern Punjab, Pakistan

Forest trees are used for multiple purposes, including various products, fruits, timber, resins, windbreaks, shelter, and gums by farmers worldwide. The study aimed to identify the forest tree types chosen by the agrarians in the lower areas of Punjab, including districts Multan, Dera Ghazi Khan, Lodhran, Vehari Muzaffargarh, Khanewal, and Bahawalpur. Altogether, 124 of the respondents were interviewed according to the prescribed questionnaire. The results showed that the young people (48%) had more experience in agroforestry and were willing to adopt the systems on their lands. The research survey observed that most (55%) of the local communities were using wood as a fuel, due to which there is a dire need for the forest trees on the farmlands to overcome the lack of fuel wood sources and the local communities preferred to plant acacia nilotica species (48.3%) and eucalyptus camaldulensis (14.9%) on their farm for their benefits, including fuel, wood, and fodder. Mangifera indica (19.5%) and citrus sinensis (9.2%) are used as fruit trees in their farmland. These results show that farmers used the agroforestry system i.e. silvo-arable, agro-horticulture silvo-pastural and agrosilvo-pastural to increase revenue, hence the need to improve the agroforestry system in these areas.

Keywords: Agroforestry; Southern-Punjab trees; Trees preference; Utilization; Multipurpose trees.