Azadirachta indica and Prosopis cineraria species contribution to agroforestry/ tree cover in arid region of Rajasthan

In the arid region of Rajasthan, Prosopis cineraria (Khejri) and Azadirachta indica (Neem) are the major tree species found growing on farmlands. These species are known as lifeline of the desert and have both multiple uses including fuelwood and medicinal values. The accurate mapping of these species is essential for knowing their contribution in green tree cover and carbon storage at district level. Six districts of Rajasthan were selected for mapping agroforestry and these two species. Khejri and Neem trees have been identified with the help of high resolution multispectral LISS IVdata and mapped by applying object oriented classification technique. The agroforestry area under two species was mapped using the Object Based Image Analysis(OBIA) approach. Total agroforestry area was estimated to be 7.99 percent in six districts of Rajasthan. In Pali district,agroforestry accounted for 8.05 percent of the geographical area. Out of the agroforestry area,the Khejri and Neem species accounted for 1.10 and 2.13 percent,respectively.Incase of Ajmer district,the agroforestry area comes out to be 6.90 percent,out of which Khejri and Neem species accounted for 1.83 and 2.55 percent,respectively.It can be concluded that both Prosopis cineraria and Azadirachta indica species have a good contribution to green tree cover vis-à-vis carbon storage in the study districts of Rajasthan.

• View from World Agroforestry website