TREE SPECIES DIVERSITY IN THE HOMESTEADS AND ITS IMPACT ON SOCIOECONOMIC CONDITION OF THE FARMERS IN NILPHAMARI DISTRICT

Abstract

ABSTRACT

Plant diversity has a broad socio-economic and agro-ecological role in home gardens, including food production and a wide range of other products. The recent study was conducted in eight villages of four unions under Kishoreganj and Saidpur upazilas in Nilphamari district to explore the tree species diversity and its impact on socio-economic condition of the farmers. The assessment was carried out using a purposive random sampling process. Based on the accumulation of 60 households from marginal, small, medium and large categories, information was concentrated. It identified a total of 1871 trees, representing 23 families. Determination of the relative abundance of the tree species showed that 21.17% of homestead agroforestry is Mangifera indica followed by Artocarpus heterophyllus (16.41%) and Cocos nucifera which occupies 8.93%. The Shannon-Wiener index (H) was used to evaluate the diversity of the trees and the evaluation showed that the area’s diversity of tree species was 2.723. The Shannon-Wiener index (H) varies from 1.22 to 2.72 according to plant categorization. The diversity of tree species was positively influenced by livelihood conditions of farmers but adversely affected by gender. Socio-economic aspects of farmers had direct impact on livelihood status, farm size, homestead size, annual income and organizational participation. The results of this study may contribute to modifying agroforestry programs for the implementation of future tree planting activities in different economic and environmental circumstances for different target populations.