Abstract
The Khasia ethnic community of Bangladesh has been a population of forest villagers in the north-eastern hill forests of Bangladesh since the early 1950s, practicing a betel leaf-based agroforestry system on land granted by the Forest Department. Taking a sample forest village of the Sylhet forest division as a case study, this article examines the sustainability attributes of betel leaf production in the agroforestry system. The presence of several positive attributes of sustainability including the composition of agroforestry, disease control, soil fertility management, profitability, socio-cultural acceptability and institutional support indicate that betel leaf production within the agroforestry system is stable under the prevailing traditional management system. Income from the sale of betel leaf is the principal livelihood means and villager’s reciprocal contributions help to conserve forest resources. However, problems with land ownership and regular agreement renewal need to be resolved for the sake of their livelihoods and forest conservation.
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Notes
Yin (2003) also suggested selecting one representative case study site if there are no remarkable differences among sites.
Even though all households supposedly have only one agroforestry plot in this village, six households were found to have more than one agroforestry plot. Villagers said that some of them have expanded their holdings illegally, some purchased from others, and some inherited land from their kin (Gousti or extended patrilineal family members).
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Nath, T.K., Inoue, M. Sustainability Attributes of a Small-Scale Betel Leaf Agroforestry System: A Case Study in North-eastern Hill Forests of Bangladesh. Small-scale Forestry 8, 289–304 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11842-009-9084-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11842-009-9084-4