Greening and Restoration of Wasteland with Agroforestry (GROW) report and "Greening and Restoration of Wasteland with Agroforestry (GROW)-Suitability Mapping" portal Bhuvan https://bhuvan-app1.nrsc.gov.in/asi_portal/ was launched by NITI Aayog.

About Report and Portal

A collaborative project led by NITI Aayog has employed remote sensing and GIS technologies to evaluate the potential of agroforestry in all districts of India.
By utilizing thematic datasets, an Agroforestry Suitability Index (ASI) was developed to prioritize the national-level initiatives.
This report offers a detailed analysis of each state and district, providing valuable support to government departments and industries to promote greening and restoration projects.
The Portal provides a platform for accessing state and district-level data. As per the current report, agroforestry covers 8.65% of India's total geographical area, which is approximately 28.42 million hectares.
The report highlights the potential benefits of using underutilized areas, particularly wastelands, for agroforestry.
The GROW initiative aligns with national commitments to restore 26 million hectares of degraded land by 2030 and create an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.

India’s Efforts for Agroforestry

The Government of India's Union Budget for FY-2022-23 has identified the promotion of agroforestry and private forestry as a priority due to the significance of the goods and services they provide.
India, the seventh-largest country globally, is facing issues such as increased urbanization, degraded land, and imbalanced resources.
Out of the Total Geographical Area (TGA), approximately 16.96% is wasteland that needs to be transformed for productive use. Geospatial technologies and GIS are being used to map and prioritize these wastelands for agroforestry interventions.

National Agroforestry Policy in 2014

India introduced the National Agroforestry Policy in 2014, which aims to improve productivity, profitability, and sustainability through an agroecological land use system. Agroforestry integrates trees, crops, and livestock and addresses food, nutrition, energy, employment, and environmental challenges.
This policy is in line with global commitments such as the Paris Agreement, Bonn Challenge, UN Sustainable Development Goals, United Nations Convention on Combating Desertification (UNCCD), Doubling Farmers Income, Green India Mission, and more.

What is Agroforestry?

Agroforestry refers to the practice of using woody perennials such as trees, shrubs, palms, and bamboo deliberately on the same land where agricultural crops and/or animals are usually raised, either in a spatial arrangement or temporal sequence.
Agroforestry systems involve a complex interplay of ecological and economic interactions among various components.

Types of agroforestry systems:

Agrisilvicultural systems are a combination of crops and trees, which can be found in practices like alley cropping or homegardens.
Silvopastoral systems, on the other hand, combine forestry and grazing of domesticated animals on pastures, rangelands or on-farm.
These systems can be integrated into agrosilvopastoral systems, where the three elements of trees, animals, and crops are combined. Homegardens involving animals and scattered trees on croplands used for grazing after harvests are examples of agrosilvopastoral systems.