This manual describes the absolute necessity for, and the socio-economic benefits of the use of intercropping with forest trees in the bhabar terai. Intercropping with agricultural crops is recommended from the year before planting, is regarded as essential for the first 2 yr after planting, and is proposed as beneficial throughout the rotation. Its main advantages are the transfer of weeding costs to the agricultural sector, and the great reduction in fire hazard and hence in the cost of fire control. Local cropping systems are compatible with chosen tree species so the farmers already know the agricultural procedures; trials of introduced cash crops are described. The main problems are institutional, arising largely from the fears of the Forest Department that the land could be alienated. These fears have constrained the project to an approach to agroforestry that could be described as 'from the top down'.