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Biotic causes include overgrazing of livestock (cattle alone outnumber humans 2 to 1), intensive crop cultivation, forest removal for the purpose of mining and general indiscriminate deforestation and exploitation of natural resources. Socio-economic factors include poverty, illiteracy and tradition-bound cultural practices. In almost every aspect of village life, firewood is a necessity-- from the Hindu ceremonies celebrating birth and
marriage, every day ordinary cooking, to the final funeral pyre.
An AFRI case study done on 10 villages representative of desert life revealed the ratio of livestock to human population to be 1:72, indicating high biotic pressure on forest vegetation. The average family size was found to be 6.5, land holdings at 5.2 hectares, and per capita income only US $105 (RS.5100) per month, reflecting a poor economy, and literacy ranged from 36 to 38%.Twice a year, AFRI holds "Farmer Fairs" to let progressive farmers know about new developments. "AFRI provides technology, developed plants, bio-pesticides and other material at a nominal cost or free of cost," said Bohra. Vinod Sahni, also an AFRI research assistant, joined the conversation. "Many achievements of AFRI, like developing bio-pesticides from the neem tree (azadiraclita indica), help people directly. Usually they use chemicals which leave a bad effect on people, soil and plants but the bio pesticides using neem are eco-friendly. It was developed in the first five years of AFRI, and was launched in the market after '95. Now it's worldwide."
"In other research performed here, we did an international provenance trial on neem. This is only at
AFRI. We collected seeds from different sources from around the world, planted them here and checked which one grows the best in this environment, considering many averages, genetic
parameters, time, survival, quality and ability to adapt to the new climate and then multiplied a plantation of that particular species." Sahni said. Acaida and Rohira were on national provenance trial, and have now also been grown on a large scale. Bohra described the necessity of
agro forestry in the region: "in this region nobody is growing only crops or only forest plants. If they grow only crops there may be no rain fall during the season and then they have nothing to survive on but if they grow some forest plant or some medicinal/business oriented plants, they can at least feed their livestock, for example Khejari and other leguminous plants or sona-mukhi as medicinal plant." Another benefit of Khejari and other
leguminous plants is that They fix nitrogen into nitrate, which is helpful for both trees and crops.
AFRI is a globally thinking institution; externally funded research projects include the RD project
(1995-2000), NABARD project (1995-2000), UNDP project (1992-2000), WB project (1994-continuing) and NOVOD (1999-continuing). About these internationally funded projects Sahni said, "UNDP (United Nations Development Program) was conducted in 10 villages of this area from 1992 to 2000. In that program, we were bringing the upgraded plantation to the villages, showing new techniques of rain-water harvesting and trying to apply them there. If water is there, this desert can be made into a forest."
A few developments or achievements of this program are:
(1) The development of the double ring pit and the use of mulch-- dead weeds or other organic
material-- which make it possible for the plant to get water longer.
(2) The use of root trainer, i.e., plastic pots in a tray with holes, instead of polythene bags provides a good root system and no root coiling.
(3) The use of bio-fertilizers called VAM (vesicular arbuscular mycorrhizer), special type of organism which increases the phosphorus intake of plants which is one of the three main elements a plant needs. "VAM is popular around the world in many types, and more are being developed, as it increases plant fertility," Bohra said.
One of AFRI's biggest achievements, as there are many industries in this region and their waste-water is flowing uselessly, destroying the land and the environment around it with its high percentage of chemicals, is the development of certain techniques for using that wastewater and protecting the people from drinking it: after mixing gypsum, the PH or acidic nature is reduced, and adding wood ash keeps the fertility of the ground intact."The neem, sares, and desi babool plants can be grown, as per our studies, to survive successfully on this wastewater, and then the water can be used before reaching a river and contaminating the good drinking water of river areas," Sahni said.
About the socio-economic status of Rajasthan, Sahni said it's progressing slowly. AFRI is a consultant in sand-dune stabilization, rain-water harvesting, crop development, the development of medicinal plants and the development of agro-forestry, which provides techniques and knowledge about growing crops with fruits and medicinal plants in an agro-forestry system.
AFRI is researching combating desertification with the use of sprinklers and a silvi-pastoral project for sand-dune stabilization, which means developing a good crop of grasses that, even in the case of draught, the root system may remain after the plant dies, keeping the sand-dune intact and preventing it from moving. Another method of preventing desertification is shelter belt plantation, i.e., planting a line of trees to reduce the effect of wind and minimize wind erosion.
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