ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the results of two post-evaluative studies of agro-forestry, i.e., crop systems incorporating the poplar in various crop sequences. The first study pertains to the year 1995 as the terminal year of the life of poplar trees and the second to the terminal year of 2000. Later, the production and marketing problems have been discussed. The integration of trees with crops has a high potential for increasing farm incomes and partially diversifying the agriculture without disturbing the regular flow of income to the farmers. The budgeting technique of analysis was carried out to work out the economics of the poplar in block plantation and intercrops, i.e., wheat, sugarcane, fodder and potato. The production problems mainly relate to the availability of quality saplings and agronomic practices. Major marketing problems faced by the farmers were lack of regulation of wood marketing, cyclical variations in poplar production impinging upon the prices and the collusion of the traders and the forest industry.
