According to a research paper, 56 lakh (5.6 million) large farmland trees vanished between 2018 and 2022 in India, partly due to altered cultivation practices.
Key points
- The paper titled “Severe decline in large farmland trees in India over the past decade” was published in the journal Nature Sustainability, analysed satellite imagery from 2010 to 2022.
- They found that around 11 per cent of the large trees, each having a crown size of 96 square metres and mapped in 2010/2011, had disappeared by 2018.
- The study identified regions in central India, particularly Maharashtra and Telangana, as hotspots for tree disappearance. These areas lost nearly 2.5 million trees between 2011 and 2018.
- The highest densities were observed in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, with 22 trees per hectare.
- Large and mature trees within these agroforestry fields are removed, and trees are now being cultivated within separate block plantations typically with lower ecological value.
- The decision to remove trees is often driven by perceived low benefits of the trees, coupled with concerns that their shading effect, including that of Neem trees, may adversely affect crop yields.
- Agroforest trees in India are remnant trees from forests cleared for agricultural use, offer shade, soil fertilisation and other benefits to the land,
