Conclusion: Cursed of marginal land holding is the root cause behind unplantations on the boundaries of farming land. Our agricultural lands are cursed by marginal land holdings - 93% of land holdings of less than 1 acre.
Let’s think about this from the first principle…
India’s total area = 3,287,263 km square
Water cover = 705,469 km square (21.6%)
Land cover = 2,581,794 km square (78.4%)
We are only going to focus on the land cover. The distribution of land cover, and we can only get a sense if we look at the above distribution in terms of rural and urban.
| Category | Rural | Urban |
|---|---|---|
| Residential | 100,000 km² (3.8%) | 40,000 km² (1.6%) |
| Road and transportation | 100,000 km² (3.8%) | 100,000 km² (3.8%) |
| Agricultural or cultivated land | 1,200,000 km² (46.4%) | 300,000 km² (11.6%) |
| Unused land with no usage | 541,794 km² (21.2%) | 200,000 km² (7.7%) |
| Total | 2,041,794 km² (75.2%) | 740,000 km² (24.8%) |
Why do we see empty lands in urban and rural?
A significant percentage of Lands with the potential to get occupied as residential in future can be found adjacent to new or future roads hence unused for now and left empty. Since plantations are visible-longterm most people left it empty rather than spending time and money on plantations. We can’t expect plantations on such empty lands. This is true for both rural and urban.
However, I think plantation on the periphery/boundaries of the agricultural lands has massive potential. And I also think the right solution can unlock massive potential for farmer’s communities. In fact, I have seen many such examples in my village. In my village, we used to call this aara (thicker concentration of soil at around 5 to 7 feet’s heights compared to the surface level of actual agricultural land), I am not aware of its English meaning. And apart from regular agricultural activities the plantation of mostly non-fruits plants. But today I know why those farmers were able to plant those trees and not in the larger agricultural areas.
Now to understand this, we need to understand the distribution of our agricultural lands. Our agricultural lands are cursed by marginal land holdings - 93% of land holdings of less than 1 acre.
Now, I need to literally draw a diagram to display the challenges for farmers in plantations on the boundaries of agricultural land. I will give you the real ground insight (farmers’ insights). My village example would be the most suitable. Meanwhile, my village’s name is Dasaut! 
Even before we start, we all need to understand: in our rural part as well the agricultural lands are mostly 3 to 7KM away from the actual residential location.
This is a picture of the agricultural land of my village. In most cases, 4 or 5 villages’s agricultural lands will be in one centralized location as you can see in the above picture.
- The individual land sizes range from .25 acres to 2 acres. And the combined land would be 50 to 70 acres
- My dad has three pieces of land: 1, 2, and 3. But all are disjointed
- There is a centralized water pump for watering
- The peripheries of these individual lands are also the route to reach out to individual lands
- You can also see there are plantations on the piece of land adjacent to the village connecting road (why?)
- In the absence of a centralized route, let’s say my dad has to reach to his piece of land-1 with farming equipment - tractors, threshers etc, he will mostly reach land-1 by crossing multiple pieces of land. And this is true for the rest of the farmers as well.
The Curse of marginal landholding prevents farmers to plant trees on the boundaries of farming land because it will literally prevent the movement of farming equipment from one piece of land to another. And the wrong selection of plants can also create complications for actual farming.
I shall come back with potential solutions maybe on the weekend - I do have some sense of the potential self-sustaining model but I need to think a few more points. However, I see massive value creation for all the stakeholders including nature in plantations on the boundaries of agricultural lands.
The benefits of plantation on the boundaries of agricultural lands
- Prevention of soil erosion
- Reduction in watering
- Organic self-sustaining fertilizers rich in active nitrogen
- Prevention from unnatural conditions - sun and rain
- Other climate benefits
Request-1: I try to write in a language that can be understood by anyone. And if you struggle, please let me know. 
I would be happy to answer your questions