FUELWOOD: FORESTRY & AGROFORESTRY

This chapter discusses the importance of forestry and agroforestry for fuelwoods. Forest and biomass resources are often seen as fuels of poor rural dwellers in the Third World. Increasingly, however, these fuels are preferred even in high-income households in developing countries because supplies can be guaranteed. Additionally, fuelwood is increasingly used in the commercial sector, particularly, for curing tobacco and tea, and in industry. It is also often used in processed forms, such as charcoal, distillates, and gas. The chapter also discusses that careful planning must be done if conventional forestry is to provide part of the future fuel requirements. Moreover, particular attention needs to be paid, within the wood monoculture systems to obtaining a sustained off-take from the forest throughout the crop cycle. A well-conceived agroforestry intervention can achieve an increased production of wood and at the same time address many of the problems related to land productivity and sustainability.