Village forests of Bangladesh cover an area of 0.27 million ha while state owned
forests cover 2.25 million ha. Village forests, mostly privately owned are more
productive than the government forests, and supply about 85 per cent of timber
requirements of the country.
Both indigenous and exotic trees are the major components of the village forests
in Bangladesh. They are represented by about 183 species belonging to 136 genera
under 48 families. Floristic elements of this flora consist mostly of native, African and
New World taxa. About 50 species are exotics and many of them have been
naturalized. Exotics are still being introduced.
Most of the village trees in Bangladesh have multiple uses. About 40 are fruit
trees, and others produce timbers, fuel woods, fodders, tannins, pharmaceutical
products, etc.
Other than species diversity, genetic variations also occur in these village
forests. Homestead tree production system in villages is a mode of species and
genetic conservation for a good number of trees.