Operational guidelines: Sub-Mission on Agroforestry (SMAF) under National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA)
Govt has approved the implementation of Sub-Mission on Agroforestry (SMAF) under the ambit of National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA) from current financial year and Guidelines have been issued. Agroforestry not only provides environmental services, but also economic gains, as about 65 % of the country’s timber requirement is met from the trees grown outside forests. The Agroforestry Policy has identified various factors those have impeded the growth of the sector like non availability of quality planting material, prohibitive legal frame work particularly for felling and transit regulations, inadequate extension mechanism, lack of proper institutional support and focused programme for its development etc. The mission is focused to achieve the quantifiable benefits such as increase tree cover to enhance carbon sequestration, enrichment of soil organic matter, availability of quality planting material, improvement in livelihood, productivity enhancement of crop and cropping systems, development of an information system etc.