**2. Socio economic status of rainfed area**

At present around 55 percent area of net sown area of the country comes under rainfed, which is considered as home for around 65–70% of total livestock and 40–50% of total human population. The poor socio economic condition of these areas comprising low irrigation facility as compared to irrigated regions, lower productivity and lesser employment opportunities leads to migration of the people for their livelihood (**Table 1**).

In rainfed areas for sustainable development, there is a considerable scope for land use diversification and crop intensification in areas having high NRI (Natural Resource Index) and low or medium ILI (Integrated Livelihoods Index). Crop production in uncertain rainfall areas is risky. Low and unstable yields are common and so is the income of dryland farmers. For imparting stability and providing sustainability to the farming systems, a tree-crop (Agroforestry) integration holds promise. Agroforestry systems can meet the multiple requirements of food, fodder, fuel, fertilizer, etc., besides improved pasture management.

Agroforestry is a multifarious approach for sustainable utilization of land and other natural resources by incorporating the trees in to diverse agricultural farming systems on same land and time to achieve economic, environmental, ecological, and cultural benefits [12]. An agroforestry system has three main objectives [13]:


*Ginger Based Agro-Forestry Systems for Livelihood to Rainfed Areas DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.108041*


#### **Table 1.**

*Comparison of rainfed vis-à-vis irrigated regions.*

And to fulfill these objectives, there is a need to elucidate a proper combination of crop and tree, which must be complimentary or supplementary among the components in the system.

Ginger is the most suitable spice/aromatic shade loving crop for intercropping in agro-forestry systems in north regions from lowlands (500 mt.) to medium elevation (500–1000 mt.) [14]. Ginger, (*Zingiber officinale*), belongs to the family Zingiberaceae, is an herbaceous perennial commercial plant, used as a spice, flavoring, food and medicine. Besides consuming fresh ginger as a vegetable, several value added products are prepared from fresh ginger such as ginger paste, ginger candy and essential oils and Oleoresins. Ginger paste offers convenience to consumer's along with easy storage, long shelf life and authentic taste, to suit the requirements of consumers. There is a huge demand of such type of packaged ginger products in commercial shops like hotels and restaurants specially. In the same way, the demand of ginger oil and oleoresins is also raising in food processing, pharmaceutical and nutraceutical sector.

Ginger is an important commercial horticultural crop, and is cultivated in more than 35 countries around the world. In 2019, the global production of ginger was 4,081,374 tons. India is among the top leading producer of ginger in the global economy, having 45 percent share in area and 35.2 percent share in production and Nigeria was second, accounting for 16.94% [15]. The area under ginger in India was 53,900 hectares in 1990–91, showed a gradual increase over the years, and was 172,040 hectares in 2019–20 [16]. Recently the ginger paste and oil, has raised its demand in Ayurvedic system of medicine, due to its carminative and stimulant properties. A number of attempts have been made from last two-three decades to sustain its productivity by screening of new and high yielding varieties, optimization of nutrient doses, improved agronomic practices and protection measure [17]. The shade-loving nature of ginger [17, 18] have encouraged the researchers to explore its potential as an intercrop and many intercropping models have also been developed with ginger under different tree canopies viz., teak [18], coconut [19], areca nut [20], paulownia [21] and ailanthus [22].
