APPLICABLE AGROFORESTRY SYSTEMS FOR LAMPANG PROVINCE

Abstract

Lampang is located in the upper North, lying from 17° 21' N to 19° 21' N latitude and from 98° 53' E to 100° 13' E. longitude It is ranked No 4 in terms of area among the northern provinces next from Chiang Mai, Mae Hongson, and Petchaboon. The total area is of 1,253,396 ha with 746,571 inhibitants, 73.25 percent is in the rural. Lampang in the past was known as a wealthy city of the North, However, such natural resources as land, water, minerals, and forests were rapidly decreased. Income gained from forest sectors dropped from 173 million bahts in 1967 to 12.5 million bahts, accounting only for 0.3 percent of the gross provincial products, in 1983. Agroforestry is expected to be among several measures to reclaim the degraded forest lands and to elevate the living standard of this province. What pattern (s) of agroforestry system appropriate to Lampang is a question to be answered from this investigation. Basic data on physical, biological, and socioeconomic factors obtained from literature reviews were integrated with field surveys to determine the suitable patterns. The climate of Lampang province was characterized by tropical wet-dry climate with an average rainfall of 959 mm / year, 4.9 dry months a year ranging from mid-November to mid-April. However, the severe climate was recorded at some districts, e.g. , 621 mm / year rainfall at Koa Ka and 93 rainy days a year at Mae Moa. Altitude ranges from 200 to 2,000 m above mean sea level. Agroecological zones were classified as R3S5, R3S6, R5S5, R5S6, and R6S6. Native tree species were Tectona grandis, Pterocarpus macrocarpus, Afzelia xylocarpa, Xylia kerrii, Shorea obtusa and Shorea siamensis, while the principal cash crops were paddy rice, groundnut, sugar cane, maize, soybean, and mungbean. Incomes gained from agricultural commodities varied from year to year. Farm prices gained from groundnut were of $ 245/ha in 1987, but $ 316/ha in 1988. Similar trends were true for paddy rice: $ 293 in 1987, $ 537 in 1988; sugar cane: $ 465 in 1987, $ 490 in 1988; and maize: $ 131 in 1987, $ 201 in 1988. Agroforestry patterns appropriate to Lampang province were defined by the following criteria (1) such pattern must be a subsistence level, not commercial; (2) planting area must be small; and (3) agricultural crops and forage crops traditionally grown by the farmers must be considered as primary crops, while forest trees, fruit trees, bamboos, and firewood crops are intercrops. Based on these criteria resulting to adoptability of the local farmers and sustainability of the system, 13 agroforestry patterns were categorized into 3 groups of adoptability levels. Patterns intercropped by fruit trees were in higher adoptability, followed by bamboos, and forest trees and firewood crops. Hence, Group I (high adoptability) consisted of the combination of fruit trees with paddy rice, upland crops, and forage crops as well as multi-storey cropping. There were 3 patterns under group II (moderate adoptability), i.e., combination of bamboos and paddy rice, upland crops, and forage crops. The third group (low adoptability) consisted of 6 patterns of combined fruit trees and firewood crops with paddy rice, upland crops, and forage crops.