MULTI-STORIED TREE CROPPING SYSTEMS: A SUSTAINABLE LAND USE SYSTEM M.A. Rahim and K.S. Islam Department of Horticulture, Bangladesh Agricultural University Mymensingh, Bangladesh Abstract Because of limited land and high population densities, Bangladeshi farmers have developed highly sophisticated multi-storied tree cropping systems. The majority of rural people in Bangladesh rely on their homesteads, rather than on natural forests for a range of products and services. This situation presents an interesting contrast for forestry professionals as they are seen as providing technical advice to maximize yield and better market income generating tree species, rather than enforcing strict policies on extraction and management of forest products. This paper presents how the Bangladesh Agriculture University developed a range of multi-storied systems for different regions of Bangladesh to improve yields of marketable species. Introduction In Bangladesh, the need for maintaining the population-food-nutrition balance can hardly be overemphasized. The country, which has only 8.16 million ha of arable land, has to feed about 120 million people. The population has doubled in the last 30 years with a density of 806 people per/km 2 . An important implication of the rapidly expanding population is that the availability of per capita land has declined from 0.19 ha in 1961 to 0.101 ha in 1992. This has put heavy pressure on the land. Most of the native fruits, vegetables, fuelwood and timber come from homesteads and marginal lands. It has been estimated that 30,000 ha of land provides 80 percent of the country's fruit and 85 percent of the fuelwood and timber (Rahim 1994). Obviously, this situation creates a shortage of food and other forest products. There is little possibility of gaining more land for forestry and agriculture, though through the mixed cultivation of trees and agricultural crops in multi-storied systems increased yields can be obtained. In Bangladesh, multi-layer tree gardens and multi-storied cropping systems are practiced in and around most homesteads. Because of this, farmers have learned through the centuries to maximize the small amount of land they have for the efficient cultivation of a range of products. These systems, are crucial to Bangladesh because of space constraints in most small farms. A multi-storied technique can provide greater economic return per unit area. Land cultivated in this way can maintain an ecological balance and provide for efficient use of all natural resources. This type of situation, where most wood and tree products come from private farmland, offers an interesting contrast to other areas in Asia where rural people derive most of their forest products from natural or degraded forestland. In Bangladesh, the main focus is not on regulating how farmers manage their farming system, but on how professional foresters and researchers can better understand farmer preferences to maximize Yields and generate income through the species that grow within their homesteads. This paper discusses a multi-storied, agroforestry system studied in a demonstration plot at the Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU) from 1991 to 1997 with the financial assistance from the Village and Farm Forestry Program (VFFP) of Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC). In order to increase the efficiency of these systems where limited land is available, BAU experimented with various types of tree and plant combinations to maximize yields and income. The experimental plots attempted to focus on certain conditions specific to the different regions of Bangladesh. The study incorporated market preferences and a mix of tree and plant species that could grow well in the multi-storied system The Multi-Cropping System Multi-layer cropping systems are found in tropical and subtropical regions (a majority in the lowland, humid Page 1 of 4