Food security and climate change resilience are a major motivating factor for agroforestry adoption by smallholder farmers in ASALs. The potential of agroforestry to contribute to food security is context-dependent, with many agroforestry contributions to food security being both directly and indirectly. Agroforestry contributes to food security through direct provision of tree foods such as fruits and leafy vegetables and by supporting staple crop production.

Social forestry and agroforestry practices play a vital role in enhancing employment generation, resource sustainability, and rural development in forest-fringe villages. These practices create job opportunities through tree planting, nursery management, and allied activities, reducing dependency on seasonal agriculture and migration. By integrating trees with crops and livestock, they promote sustainable use of land and forest resources, improve soil fertility, conserve water and provide fuelwood, fodder and timber, thereby reducing pressure on natural forests. Additionally, they contribute to rural development by diversifying income sources, enhancing food and nutritional security, and fostering community participation in resource management. Overall, social forestry and agroforestry serve as effective tools for improving livelihoods, ensuring ecological balance, and promoting socio-economic upliftment in forest-dependent communities.

Social forestry and agroforestry practices represent fundamentally different approaches to land use compared to conventional industrial agriculture. In particular, forest garden systems—a form of agroforestry inspired by natural ecosystems—embody a regenerative agricultural paradigm that integrates natural cycles rather than exploiting them. By mimicking forest-like structures and processes, they respect planetary boundaries while simultaneously ensuring long-term food security for human communities. These systems challenge the linear logic of industrial food production by embedding circularity, biodiversity, and resilience into agricultural landscapes.

In this context, both social forestry and agroforestry play key roles in fostering employment, resource sustainability, and rural development, particularly in village settings where conventional agriculture often fails to provide stable or sustainable livelihoods.

In the context of Central Europe, forest garden systems (multi-layered, diverse agroforestry systems inspired by natural forest structures) offer a promising model for sustainable land use. They support decentralized food production, create jobs in processing, education, and maintenance, and integrate ecosystem services such as pollination, carbon sequestration, and biodiversity conservation.

Both approaches contribute to rural development by:

• Stabilizing local livelihoods
• Reinforcing cultural identity and traditional ecological knowledge
• Reversing rural depopulation trends by creating meaningful green jobs.

Thus, combining social forestry for community-led ecological restoration and agroforestry for sustainable production offers a holistic path towards regenerative rural economies.

Social forestry and agroforestry practices have impact on employment generation, resource sustainability and rural development. Social forestry will be having more emphasis on social goals such as providing food, fuel wood, fodder, and other intangible benefits for the society and employment generation will be achieved by raising plantation and its management. whereas agroforestry is a practice by the farmers for sustenance of livelihood. agroforestry ensure more income in addition to the above mentioned benefits. Both these agroforestry and social forestry are dealing with raising of new crops it create employment opportunity.