Intermediate solutions?
I walked through one of these pine forests in Bhorle, Rasuwa, and you’re right about the dead leaves / needles covering the ground and allowing little other plants, and no grass for animals. I like the “edible landscape” idea a lot … more power to your project!
People in Bhorle also had a (small) nice use for the dead pine leaves: they would use them for sun ray protection of sheet metal shelters, making it a lot cooler inside. See my photos and detailed description.
So I just thought: If there would be a large-scale economic use for pine needles, it could motivate villagers to take them out the forest, making the forest more useful for everyone even though it’s still pine. But what to do with tons and tons of dead pine needles? 