TAUNGYA SYSTEM|| RP YADAV|| FORESTRY|| AGRICULTURE|| Pre-PG|| IBPS-SO|| AFO|| AFO|| FOREST RANGER||

Taungya is a system of forest management in which land is cleared and planted initially to food crops. Seedlings of a desirable timber species are then planted on the same plot of land, either in combination with the food crops, or following several years of cultivation. After 3-4 years, the tree canopy closes, preventing any further agricultural use, and the land is used solely for the timber crop until the cycle is repeated following harvest of the timber. The taungya system was used primarily as an inexpensive means of establishing timber plantations but is finally a recognized AF system. The taungya (taung = hill, ya = cultivation) is a Burmese word coined in Burma in 1850. The system was introduced to India by Sir Dietrich Brandeis in 1890 and the first taungya plantations were raised in 1896 in North Bengal. It is practiced in the states of Kerala, West Bengal, Orissa, Karnataka and the north-eastern hill region called KUMARI. This is a modified form of shifting cultivation in which the labour is permitted to raise agri-crops in an area but only side by side with the forest species planted by it. The practice consists of land preparation, tree planting, growing agricultural crops for 1-3 years, until shade becomes too dense, and then moving on to repeat the cycle in a different area. A large variety of crops and trees, depending on the soil and climatic conditions, are grown in India. In fact this system was introduced to raise forest plantations, but finally became recognized agroforestry system. This system is practiced at where annual rainfall is about 1200-1500mm.