LAUSR

In recent past agroforestry systems have been recognized as sustainable land use system over conventional agriculture. However, the major obstacle in up scaling of this tree based land use systems is the difficulty in quantification and demonstration of the ecological and economical sustainability as compared to agriculture. Nevertheless, energy analysis is being widely used at global, national and regional scale to assess the sustainability of system production as it evaluates the system components on common units and also helps to understand the resource use and production efficiency of tree based farming system. Therefore, the present investigation was undertaken to assess the economics and energy use efficiency of different neem (Azadirachta indica A. Juss.) and teak (Tectona grandis L.f.) based agroforestry systems in rainfed and irrigated ecosystems respectively in north-eastern dry zone of Karnataka, India. The economic analysis of neem based agroforestry systems under rainfed condition revealed higher net returns and B:C ratio with crop alone (control) (515 $ ha−1 year−1, 2.00 respectively) over different agroforestry systems. While, in teak based agroforestry systems under irrigated ecosystem higher B:C ratio were recorded (4.07 to 5.71) over control (2.87). However, energy analysis revealed that both neem (3.99 to 4.15) and teak based agroforestry systems (4.48 to 7.74) were energetically superior to control (3.32 and 4.21 respectively). Energy analysis appeared to be the most appropriate method to assess the agroforestry systems rather than economics or life cycle assessment though intangible benefits of tree based land use system are not considered in the former. Therefore, integrated approach involving both ecological and economical assessment is suggested to quantify the sustainability and productivity across types of system and ecological situations.