Dehradun (The Hawk): Growing population coupled with increased aspiration brought by Economic Development caused to manifold increased in demand for food, fodder, fuelwood, fruits and other industrial raw materials and in the meantime the area under agriculture is showing a declining trend over the years due to diversion of agriculture land to non-agriculture purpose for various reasons.
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Agroforestry as an effective land management system, which involves deliberate introduction /retention of woody components with agriculture crops including pasture/livestock, simultaneously or sequentially on the same unit of land shall help in increasing the resilience of forming system and reducing vulnerability, buffering the households against climate related risk in addition to provide livelihood security apart from meeting the socio-ecological and economic needs of the people.
As Agroforestry entails various compatible species- which are complimentary to each other enriches the crop biodiversity which in turn brings multiple benefits in terms of food, fodder, timber, medicines, fruits and fuelwood- with additional benefits including improvement in soil health- in terms of soil fertility,soil nutrition organic matter, water holding capacity, soil microflora etc.
Looking into the significant role of the agroforestry in the national economy and overall wellbeing of the ecology and environmentExtension Division, Forest Research Institute, Dehradun organized an online seminar on "Agroforestry Extension: Isuues and Challenges" on 11th August, 2023 at FRI, Dehradun.ShriMahaling, IFS, Head Extension Division, FRI welcomed all the participants and guest speakers and briefed the house about the objectives of the seminar.
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The online seminar was inaugurated by Dr. Renu Singh, IFS, Director, FRI, Dehradun. While delivering the inaugural address Director FRI expressed the concern on the current status of land degradation in the country and the impact of the consequences of the climate change on various aspects of the life.
Further focusing on the scope of agroforestry especially in viewof Paris Climate change Agreement, Director FRI emphasized that India is committed to achieve the NDC (Nationally Determined Contribution) targets by creating additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 Billion tons of CO2 equivalent through additional forest and tree cover by 2030 which itself a great opportunity for agroforestry extension to gear ups itself to take up the challenge.
Lastly address was concluded with the hope that this seminar will certainly be helpful to recommend an appropriate strategy for adoption of Agroforestry in a real sense for income generation of farmers while ensuring the ecological integrity in the long run.
Inaugural address was followed by the technicalsessions were held on different topics.
The first topic was on community participation for success and sustainability of Agroforestry Extension programmesby Dr. Bankey Bihari, Principal Scientist, ICAR-IISWC, Dehradun. He mentioned how effectively the community participation in conservation natural resources and recovery of the degraded land is possible with technical know-how from the government agencies.He also said that agroforestry can play a key role in ameliorating the environment, providing critical ecosystem services, providing nutritional security, increasing productivity besides providing additional income for farmers. Further he emphasized that for successful participation of the community values such as transparency, equality, caring and sharing and feeling plays a significant role in any project.
The second session was delivered by Dr. Sandeep Arya, Associate Professor, Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agriculture University, Hisar. He spoke on Extension of economically viable agroforestry systems in Haryana. He spoke on diversification of Poplar, Eucalyptus, Melia and Khejari based agroforestry systems with their economics in Haryana. Case studies on different agroforestry systems were also shared through his presentation.
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The third session was delivered by Dr. Ashok Kumar, Scientist-G, FRI, Dehradun on Production of quality planting stock of Agroforestry species for livelihood improvement and also shared information of other species which are certainly helpful to enhance the wood production and maintain supply chain of wood on sustainable basis.
About 70 participants including Heads of Divisions of FRI, officers and scientists of FRI and students of FRI deemed university and from other wood industry and Non-Government Organization were attended the programme.Dr. Charan Singh, Scientist-F Extension Division coordinated the programme and proposed vote of the thanks to all participants and dignitaries. Dr. Devendra Kumar, Scientist-E, Shri Rambir Singh, Scientist-E and Shri Vijay Kumar, ACF, Mr. Preetpal, FRO, Shri Naveen Chauhan, Shri Amit Singh and other officials of Extension Division, Forest Research Institute, Dehradun were present on the occasion and helped in successful organization of the seminar.
