THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Malayalis have proved their mettle in various fields at the international level. P K Ramachandran Nair from Thiruvananthapuram is one such talent who has been at the forefront of global efforts to popularise agroforestry, the age-old practice of growing trees and crops together. One of the founders of the International Centre for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF), Nair is credited with making unparalleled contributions to the development of the discipline.
Nair is a Distinguished Professor (Emeritus) at the University of Florida, USA, where he has been working since 1987. “It’s quite natural for a Keralite to get attracted to agroforestry. Kerala has an exceptional tradition of agroforestry, though the term would be unfamiliar to commoners. Except for paddy and some types of plantation crops, most farms in the state are small holdings where annuals, vines, shrubs, and trees are grown together. They are ‘home gardens’ in agroforestry literature,” he says.
Regarded as the father of modern agroforestry, Nair is the most cited agroforestry scientist in the world. A master’s degree holder from the College of Agriculture, Vellayani, Nair started his career as a research assistant at his alma mater.
After a PhD from Pantnagar University and a post-doctoral programme in the UK, he joined the Central Plantation Crops Research Institute (CPCRI) as an agronomist. There he developed a programme combining the principles of maximising crop production and nutrient cycling in a mixture of different types of plants growing together. This path-breaking invention helped Nair attain international attention, including a German research fellowship, by pursuing which he earned a Doctor of Science (DSc) degree from the University of Goettingen.
He then joined the international efforts for the development of the new discipline of agroforestry and established the International Centre for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF), in Nairobi, Kenya, in 1978. He was a core scientist at ICRAF.
“At ICRAF, I took part in the development of the concepts and principles of agroforestry and initiated a global inventory of land-use systems in which trees and crops are grown together. As part of that effort, I travelled to numerous countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America to gather information,” he said. Nair is a recipient of five honorary (honoris causa) Doctor of Science degrees from four continents.
Nair feels it is time for governments, including Kerala, to recognise agroforestry in right earnest. “We should have a rethinking on the existing practice of categorising integrated farmlands in the name of the dominant species there. Because, under this system, only the dominant crop is considered for assessing the land’s productivity,” he said.
“What we need is a system to assess the productivity of the whole system. It will give due recognition to the mixed-species systems of growing trees, shrubs, and various types of useful plants and animals together on the same unit of land,” he added. However, he does not believe that agroforestry is a panacea for all land management problems. “Modern methods of chemical agriculture have caused countless cases of soil quality deterioration, biodiversity decline and other environmental maladies. Combined systems of trees and crops in interacting combinations can address some of these problems,” he says.