Farming Vs Forests: An Investigation from Sri Langka

Across Southeast Asia, tropical forests act as an important source of food, fuel and other vital products. Many people living near forests depend on them for their subsistence needs, especially during times of hardship. But growing populations have put increasing pressure on this resource, which is now threatened by over-use. Sri Langka is one country where this situation has reached a crisis point. One possible way forward is to improve the technical efficiency of agriculture in the land bordering forests - in other words, to boost the amount of income, food and other resources forest gatherers produce on their farms, so they do not need to use forest resources as much. This can he done in a number of ways, by, for example, improving technical expertise and capitalizing on any economies of scale.