The British perceived these valuable community resources as a "wasteful system"

The balding hills of Jadhera panchayat in Himachal Pradesh are regaining their vegetation, thanks to an unusual village chief

This article focuses on the use of plantations to produce biomass energy products. This integration of trees with (potential) intercropping in the agricultural system is called agro-forestry. However, if the demand for renewable energy from biomass sources is to be met, large plots of agricultural land will have to be converted to agro-forestry systems.

Jatropha (Jatropha curcas Linn.) is a non-edible oilseed plant with adaptability to marginal semi-arid lands and wastelands. The Indian Government is promoting jatropha to reduce dependence on the crude oil and to achieve energy independence by the year 2012, under the National Biodiesel Mission. Adaptive trials on J.

The existing Jatropha curcas in the country exhibit varying degrees of success in terms of seed oil yield and susceptiblity to pest and diseases. Hence, an intensive hybridization programme has been attempted between Jatropha curcas and other Jatropha species to develop new hybrids with higher yield potential and resistance to diseases. Among the interspecific crosses, the cross between J.