As part of ongoing research work at the School of Environmental Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, the ecosystem services provided by home garden agroforestry systems in four different socio-ecological zones (SEZs), namely protected areas, riverine, rural markets, and tea estates of Brahmaputra Valley, Assam is assessing. These SEZs are inhabited by diverse ethnic and linguistic groups.
Home gardening is one of the earliest food production systems, and it is practised by almost 95% of rural households in the state of Assam in India. Although home gardens are often studied from the perspective of plant diversity estimation, very few studies have been done to estimate the total ecosystem services from these systems. Ecosystem services are the benefits that humans derive from an ecosystem. According to the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Report (MEA, 2005), there are four ecosystem services: provisioning, regulating, supporting, and cultural.
In this study, the team will document HG ecosystem services in Brahmaputra Valley through extensive fieldwork involving 192 households situated in 16 different villages (four in each socio-ecological zone). The provisioning services would be quantified using the yield data of different goods obtained from home gardens, e.g. yield of timber, fuelwood, vegetables, fruits, and medicinal plants and then obtain the market prices. The supporting services would be estimated based on the carbon sequestration of home gardens obtained by estimating the Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) and above-ground biomass. The cultural and regulating services would be calculated using a questionnaire-based survey of the study site.
Are you a seasoned researcher, a guardian of traditional agroforestry wisdom, or someone passionate about preserving our natural heritage? If so, please get in touch with the team and help by filling out a questionnaire to capture the essence of these ecosystem services of home gardens from your perspective. Your feedback and answers would be beneficial.
Team
Rashmita Sharma, Prime Minister Research Fellow, School of Environmental Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University – rashmitasharma256@gmail.com
Prof Usha Mina, School of Environmental Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University -ushamina@mail.jnu.ac.in
The questionnaire can be accessed here.