Social forestry aims to provide economic, ecological, and social benefits to rural communities and those living in poverty. It involves local people in planning and execution of tree growing from start to finish to help environmental, social, and rural development. Agroforestry is the deliberate integration of trees and shrubs into crop and livestock operations to achieve increased economic and environmental benefits. It is practiced on individual farms and involves integrating two or more components on the same land to maximize production in a sustainable way.

1. Social Forestry, a forestry which aims at ensuring
economic, ecological, and social benefits to the
people, particularly to the rural masses and
those living below poverty line, specially by
involving the beneficiaries right from the
planning stage to the harvesting stage.Its
purpose is to help in the environmental, social
and rural development.

2.  According to Arnold,
“Social forestry is the active involvement and
perticipation of the local people in the
planning and execution of tree growing and
support that people need in order to be able
to grow and manage tree.”

3. According to Gilmour and Fisher, 1998
“Social forestry is the control ang
management of forest resources by the rural
people.”
FAO defined social forestry as
 ‘Any situation which intimately involves local
people in a forestry activity’.

4.  World Agro-forestry Centre depicts that,” a
dynamic, ecologically based, natural
resources management system that,
through the integration of trees on farms
and in the agricultural landscape, diversifies
and sustains production for increased
social, economic, and environmental
benefits for land users at all levels”.

5. The Association for Temperate Agro-forestry
describes it as
“an intensive land management system that
optimises the benefits from the biological
interactions created when trees and/or shrubs are
deliberately combined with crops and/or
livestock” (IGUTEK, 2011). Agro-forestry offers
great potential for carbon sequestration (UNFCCC,
2008).

6.  Social forestry is primarily a government
based programme that aims to increase the
forest area by rehabilitating wastelands while
producing biomass both for industrial and
local uses where Agroforestry involves the
rural awakening towards self sufficiency by
producing maximum biomass per unit area,
fulfilling then needs of food, fodder and
fuelwood etc.

7.  1.Agroforestry is practiced mostly in
farmers’ field/own land.
 2.It involves integration of two or more
than two components ion the same unit of
land
 3.It is a system which is rather localized in
its concept for managing the unit of land for
maximizes production of agricultural crop
and forest trees complimentary with each
other.

8.  4.enhance the production of more than one
harvestable component at a time, while also
providing conservation benefits such as non-
point source water pollution control or
wildlife habitat.

9. 1.Productivity
2.Sustainability
3.Adaptability

10.  Agro forestry system aims to maintain
or increase production as well as productivity.
Afro forestry can improve productivity in
many different ways.These include increased
output of tree products, improved yields of
associated crops,reduction of cropping
systems input and increased labor efficiency.

11.  By conserving the production potential of the
resource based mainly through the beneficial
effects ofwoody perenials on soils, agro
forestry can achieve and indefinitely
maintainconservation and fertility goals.

12.  Agro forestry is relatively a new word for an
old set of practices means that in some cases,
agro forestry has already been acecpted by
the farming community.

13. There are three major components in agro forestry
system.These are
1.Tree
2.Crops
3.Animals

14. There are some levels of the development of agro
forestry in Bangladesh.
 Betagi-Pomora Community Forestry Project:
 This was the first agro forestry
program started in Betagi and Pamora, are the
two villages of chittagong where govt.
Rehabilitate families who encroched forest land
with a view to plant trees along with the
provision of cultivation of agricultural crops in
the alloted land for each family.

15.  In the mid 1980s,on farm research division
on BARI was established where agro forestry
as a land use systems were eveluated and its
potential and necessity in our farming system
has been judged. In the 1987 Bangladesh
Forest Research Institute (BFRI) Conducted
agro ofrestry research works in Rangunia.
Fashiakhali of Dulahazra and Salna of Gazipur
with a view to maximize the productivity of
govt. Forest land.

16.  In 1988, Institute of Forestry of the
University of Chittagong introduced the
course of agro forestry in its curriculum for
the degree of B.Sc (Hons) in Forestry.In 1990,
the giant NGOs like BRAC, Proshika, SDC and
others started agro forestry works in the
country.In 1990, Department of Agro forestry
and Environment was established in IPSA.

17.  In 1997, National Agro forestry working group
(NAWG) was formed by the active initiation of the
personnel engaged in the forestry division of
Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC).In
1998, First National Agro forestry workshop was held
at BARC organized by NAWG during 21-25 june.
 By 2004, the programme, active in the North and
South-Western parts of Bangladesh, developed a
successful nursery model in order to reduce poverty
by promoting agroforestry. Since 2005, the
programme
 expanded to the whole country under the new name
of AFIP: Agroforestry Improvement Partnership.