Productivity and Profitability of Jackfruit-Eggplant Agroforestry System in the Terrace Ecosystem of Bangladesh

Abstract

Multistoried agroforestry systems as a form of jackfruit-eggplant based is increasingly recognized as a promising option to counteract the catastrophic effects of climate change through providing multifaceted benefits. Unfortunately, farmers of Bangladesh did not manage their jackfruit orchard in a scientific manner. Therefore, the present study was aimed to assess the productivity and profitability of jackfruit-eggplant based agroforestry system after modification from a traditional jackfruit orchard during the period of July 2012 to December 2013. Five treatments covering four orientations of jackfruit tree and an open field was used as a control treatment. To observe the growth and economic performance of the system; soil moisture and temperature, DBH, number of fruits per tree, fruit length, fruit width, fruit weight, total yield, BCR, and LER were calculated following different established methods. The yield of jackfruit dramatically increased by 81% in the agroforestry system in compared to sole cropping, while eggplant shows inverse trend. Soil moisture was high in agroforestry system than that of control plot while soil temperature shows reverse pattern. Indeed, agroforestry system had some negative effects on growth performance of understorey crops. Despite, net return and BCR from jackfruit based agroforestry system were 5.58 lakh and 4.56, which was 66 and 45%, respectively higher than sole cropping systems. The LER of jackfruit-eggplant based agroforestry system was 2.17. Considering the main findings, we can elucidate that jackfruit orchards can be transformed to agroforestry system for maximizing production, generating income and conserving environment.

Performance of Aroid under Jackfruit-Based Agroforestry System in Terrace Ecosystem of Bangladesh

“…This result might be due to excellent yield from jackfruit without additional management practices and satisfactory yield of aroid in agroforestry system. The higher economic benefits from jackfruit-based agroforestry system have also been reported in other studies such as eggplant Rahman et al, 2018) and pineapple (Hasan et al, 2008).…”

“…Overall higher moisture content in agroforestry may be attributed to the lower rate of evaporation of water from the soil surface and due to continuous shedding of litter from jackfruit trees which increased water retention capacity. Several studies in agroforestry systems in different region of the world have shown that soil temperature was substantially lower and soil moisture content was higher than open field (Rahman et al, 2018;Lin et al, 2015;Singh et al, 2012).…”

Economic assessment of lemon-based agroforestry systems established in Madhupur Sal forest area of Bangladesh

“…Akter et al (2020) found similar results for BCR and LER (2.88 and 1.58 respectively) in the case of the Akashmoni-Ginger-Banana based agroforestry system. Rahman et al (2018) found that higher net return, BCR and LER from jackfruit based agroforestry system were BDT 557863, 4.56 and 2.17 respectively than their sole cropping systems in the Narsingdi district of Bangladesh. Lemon-pineapple-papaya-ginger based agroforestry system: From the result, it showed that the cost of production of the Lemon-Pineapple-Papaya-Ginger based agroforestry system during 2017 and 2018 year was Tk.…”

Linking Entrepreneurial Skills and Opportunity Recognition with Improved Food Distribution in the Context of the CPEC: A Case of Pakistan

“…Likewise, while studying the role of agriculture entrepreneurship in India and China, Zhang, Qi [34] note that innovation orientation and market orientation have assisted the farmers in moving beyond traditional means of farming, and therefore, being agricultural entrepreneurs, farmers are aggressive to goals, flexible in decision making, efficient in technological adoption, proactive and consistent in pursuit of better performance. Whereas, Rahaman, Rahman [35] conducted an empirical study in Bangladesh and found that agriculture entrepreneurship contributes to boost farmers' capabilities, improve food production and distribution, enhances their profitability and encourages nascent agriculture entrepreneurs to gain a competitive advantage in new markets. Likewise, in Malaysia, Ismail [36] notes a significant role of farmers' skills and innovation orientation in seeking trade advantage and internationalization.…”