A worrying loss of farmland trees

It is a matter of concern that India is losing a lot of its farmland tree cover when there is the need to increase the vegetation. A study published in the journal Nature Sustainability has said that millions of trees have disappeared from India’s farmlands in the last decade. The study, based on satellite imagery, has found that India may have lost about 5.6 million full-grown trees in agricultural lands between 2018 and 2022, and some regions lost up to half of their large trees between 2010 and 2018.

Some areas in Central India, such as parts of Maharashtra and Telangana, have sustained the biggest losses. The highest tree densities were found in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. There are regional variations, but depletion has generally been seen across the country. The trend needs to be taken seriously because 56% of the country is farmland and about 20% is forested area.

What should cause particular concern is that the trees which were lost were big, with large crowns and with lifespans of even centuries like the neem. Some reasons for the death of trees were wild fires, drought, and fungus and insect infestation.

Climate change was also a factor. But changes in cultivation practices and expansion of farming were the main reasons. Many farmers removed the trees because they would not benefit from them and wanted to increase the crop yield. There is the need for concerted action to save the trees and to educate the farmers on the benefits of retaining and expanding tree cover.

Trees provide fruits, fuelwood, sap, medicine, fibre, fodder and wood for animal and human use. They also help soil fertilisation, and the cover they provide as a whole is a shield against climate change. 

Steps should be taken to ensure that large numbers of such trees are not cut down. Usually, farmers are aware of what is good for them and would not disturb nature. They need to be educated on the wider benefits of conserving the trees. The report has made it clear that the findings of the study did not contradict official accounts that the tree cover in India has increased in recent years.

It has recorded only gross losses and did not consider tree gains as a separate class. The study did not include block plantations with low ecological value and counted only big trees with large crowns. The findings are conservative. The official accounts of increase in forest area are usually controversial. Even if new trees were planted and the forest area increased, they would not have made up for the loss of old and large trees on such a large scale.