Regional Consultation on Agroforestry: The Way Forward

Transcription

1 Regional Consultation on Agroforestry: The Way Forward 8-10 October, 2015 at NASC Complex, DPS Marg, New Delhi (India) Concept Note Agroforestry is an effective land use system which contributes to food, nutritional and environmental security. Beside its multifarious use as food, fuel, fodder, fibre and timber, it enables smallholder farmers to optimize their land use. Also agroforestry has significant potential to provide employment and additional income to farmers. Through Agroforestry, many countries are able to increase their forest/tree cover to meet specific national targets, which otherwise are quite difficult to achieve. In the context of climate change, agroforestry helps in mitigating the same through microclimatic modification and carbon sequestration. Towards landscape management, agroforestry plays an important role in reducing greenhouse gas (GHS) emissions and acts as an effective means of environmental services. In fact, agroforestry can help in achieving resilience in agriculture while addressing effectively the threat of climate change. Given the fact that land-holdinagriculture is perhaps the only way forward to optimize farm productivity and size is shrinking, tree farming combined with thus, enhance livelihood opportunities of smallholder farmers, landless labourers and the women farmers. Currently, there is growing concern about environmental degradation (soil erosion, salinity, sodicity, water logging, agricultural non-point source pollution, desertification etc.) owing to indiscriminate use of agricultural chemicals/other inputs and/or inappropriate land use systems. As a result, substantial areas of land have gone out of production. Agroforestry, as an alternate land use option, holds promise in such cases. A closer integration of agricultural crops and forest trees would be useful not only in checking further adverse effects of climate change as well as land degradation but also would ensure timber and firewood availability in the rural areas. Despite its obvious benefits, agroforestry continues to face challenges such as unfavourable policy environment, lack of scientific knowledge and public awareness, legal constraints and poor coordination as well as convergence among the multiple sectors involved namely, agriculture, forestry, rural development, environment and trade. Inadequate investment, lack of suitable extension strategies and weak market linkages are the real concerns for

2 improving the livelihood of small holder farmers. Moreover, the development of agroforestry is impeded by legal, policy and institutional arrangements, its environmental benefits are mostly unrewarded, and the investments are often linked with long gestation periods. As a result, the potential of agroforestry has not been fully understood by the farmers and the farming communities. Unfortunately, agroforestry has not gained the desired importance as a resource development option due to various factors as mentioned above. In the recent past, fortunately a paradigm shift towards environmental protection and sustainable land use has taken place all over the region and the tree-based production systems are being promoted the world over. Ever since organized research in agroforestry started worldwide about 35 years ago, many countries in South Asia, including India, have remained in the forefront of agroforestry research. The Indian Council of Agricultural Research had initiated a project called: All India Coordinated Research Project on Agroforestry way back in Subsequently, ICAR also established a National Research Centre for Agroforestry in 1988 which is recently upgraded as Central Agroforestry Research Institute from The World Congress on Agroforestry was organized with a great success jointly by ICRAF (World Agroforestry Center) and ICAR in 2014 in New Delhi with the central theme Trees for Life: Accelerating the Impacts of Agroforestry. During the Congress India launched a National Agroforestry Policy. As a result, Agroforestry, Evergreen Agriculture, and smallholder production systems have attracted considerable attention of late. The World Congress had made several useful recommendations which when implemented will go a long way in stimulating large-scale adoption of agroforestry by the farmers and will provide much needed raw material to wood based industries on the one hand and play its role towards energy and environmental security on the other. It was also recognized that agroforestry is the only alternative to meet the target of increasing forest cover to 33% from the present less than 25% in India, restoring thus also the lands that are considered degraded presently. Therefore, a major role for agroforestry would be to provide environmental services such as increased coverage under vegetation and higher carbon sequestration. The major hurdle in the implementation of the National Agroforestry Policy and the recommendations of the World Congress is lack of appropriate tree harvesting and transportation rules between and within a state. Further, there is lack of marketing, credit and insurance infrastructure in agroforestry sector. Research and technology gaps also need to be addressed.

3 In this context, it is proposed to organize a Regional Consultation on Agroforestry in South Asia from 8-10 October, 2015 at NASC complex to discuss future Road Map action related stakeholders. Objectives: The objectives of the Regional Consultation are: i) To provide a platform to all the stakeholders for sharing experiences/ ideas to overcome the challenges in accelerating growth of agroforestry in the region. ii) To assess the current status on Agroforestry research in different countries of South Asia. iii) To understand national strategies towards adoption/promotion of agroforestry including states of National Action Plans. iv) To identify priority areas for research and development, including policy interventions needed. v) To finalize a Road Map for regional collaboration/networking in agroforestry. Organizers: Trust for Advancement of Agricultural Sciences (TAAS) Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) Indian Society of Agroforestry Asia-Pacific Association of Agricultural Research Institutions (APAARI) Dates and Venue: 8-10 October, 2015 at NASC Complex, DPS Marg, New Delhi

4 Advisory Committee Dr. S. Ayyappan, ICAR - Chairman Dr. R.S. Paroda, TAAS, Co-chairman Mr. Siraj Hussain, DAC, Co-Chairman Dr. Tony Simon, ICRAF, Member Dr. Raghunath Ghodake, APAARI, Member Dr. Rita Sharma, Member Organizing Committee Dr. A.K. Sikka, ICAR, Chairman Dr. J. Rizvi, ICRAF, Co-Chairman Dr. S.K. Dhyani, ICAR, member Dr. Inder Dev, ISAF, member Director, CAFRI, member Dr. R. Choudhary, ICRAF, member Dr. N.N. Singh, TAAS, Member Secretary Technical committee Dr. B. Mohan Kumar, ICAR, Convener Dr. J. Rizvi, ICRAF, member Dr. S.K. Dhyani, ICAR, member Dr. N.N. Singh, TAAS, member

5 Regional Consultation on Agroforestry: The Way Forward 8-10 October, 2015 at NASC Complex, DPS Marg, New Delhi (India) Tentative Programme Day 1: 8 October, Registration Inauguration Welcome Address General Remarks Special Address Inaugural Address Chairman s Remarks Vote of Thanks Tea/Coffee Break and Group Photo Technical Session I A.K. Sikka Tony Simons Siraj Hussain S. Ayyappan Raj Paroda Javed Rizvi Chair: D.N. Tiwari Co-chair: tbd Rapporteur: S..K. Dhyani (NRM) Global Scenario on Agroforestry: Current Thrust Tony Simons (ICRAF) National Agroforestry Policy and its Implementation R.B. Sinha (DAC) General Discussion and Concluding Remarks Lunch Technical Session II: Country Status Reports Chair: Rita Sharma Co-chair: V.P. Singh Rapporteur: A..K. Handa (CAFRI) Afghanistan Mohammad Rafi Bangladesh Mohd Shahjahan Bhutan Yadunath Bajgai India S.K. Dhyani Philippines Feliciano Jr G Calora General Discussion and Concluding Remarks Tea/Coffee Break Technical Session II: Country Status Reports (contd.) Chair: A.K. Sikka (NRM) Co-chair: K.N. Pyakurial (VC, Nepal) Rapporteur: A. Arunachalam (ICAR) Nepal Rajendra Pd. Adhikari Sri Lanka Ajit Silva Malaysia Mohd. Jaki Abdullah Viet Nam Pham This-Sen General Discussion and Concluding Remarks Dinner Hosted by Organizers

6 Day 2: 9 October, Technical Session III (Plenary) : Innovations in Agroforestry Chair: Tony Simons (ICRAF) Co-chair: N.K. Krishnakumar (ICAR) Rapporteur: Inder Dev (CAFRI) Socio-economic Impacts: Agroforestry and CSR D.K. Marothia Agroforestry and Sustainable Energy for All Navin Sharma (ICRAF) Agroforestry and Dietary Diversity for Nutrition and Ramani Jamnadas Health Role of Horticulture in Agroforestry /Climate Change and Agroforestry (ICRAF) N.K. Krishna Kumar DDG (Hort)/Ram Newaj (CAFRI) General Discussion and Concluding Remarks Tea/Coffee Break Technical Session IV (Plenary): Developments in Agroforestry: Some Success Stories Chair: Tej Pratap (SKUAST) Co-chair: Ndavi, Malu, IFAD, Rome Rapporteur: Babita (ICRAF) Nepal Bhishma Subedi Sri Lanka Samarkuan India Partibhan (TNAU) General Discussion and Concluding Remarks Lunch Panel Discussion (1): Road Map for Agroforestry Research Theme Paper: Harnessing New Knowledge in Agroforestry and Post 2015 Development Agenda: Technological Options by Ravi Prabhu - (20 min) Panelists: B Mohan Kumar (ICAR), M.M. Animon FAO(Rome) Savitha (FRI) Bishwa Nath Oli (Nepal) Moderator: Ravi Prabhu (ICRAF) Rapporteur: Ram Newaj/Devashree Panel Discussion (2): Agroforestry for Land Rehabilitation Theme Paper: Rehabilitation, Restoration and Reclamation of Degraded Sites: Institutional Issues for Agroforestry Promotion by S. Chandra (MoEF) (20 min) Panelists: J.C. Dagar (Karnal) N.B. Singh (Solan), O.P. Toky (Hisar) Moderator: A.K. Singh (VC, RVSKV) Rapporteur: R.K. Tewari (CAFRI)

7 Tea/Coffee Break Panel Discussion (3): Agroforestry Education Theme Paper: Agroforestry Education in India: Current Scenario; Capacity Development through Vocational Trainings for Accelerating the Development, Delivery and Adoption of Improved Agroforestry Technologies by KD Singh (20 min) Panelists: Vijay Singh Thakur (VC, Solan) Salil Kumar Tewari (Pantnagar) K.K. Suresh (TNAU), K. Vidyasagaran (KAU) Panel Discussion (4): Role of Industry/Private Sector Theme Paper: Partnering with Industries to Support Growth of Agroforestry and Bioenergy Sectors; Financing Agroforestry; Supporting Sustainable Supply Chain; Payment of Ecosystem Services and Mechanisms by Sajjan Bhajanka (President, Federation of Indian Plywood and Panel Industry) (20 min) Panelists: Ramesh Chand (NCAP) Javed Rizvi (ICRAF) R.C. Dhiman (WIMCO) Man Mohan Singh (Farmer) Day 3: 10 October, Panel Discussion (5) Regional/International Cooperation and Partnerships Theme Paper: Regional/Institutional Cooperation and Partnerships for Promoting Agroforestry by Margaret Kroma (ICRAF) (20 min) Panelists: H.S. Gupta (BISA) Jaideep Brar (Farmer) P. Mathur (BI) Tea/Coffee Break Plenary Session Co-Chairs Recommendations of Technical Sessions General Remarks Concluding Remarks Vote of Thanks Lunch Moderator: N.S. Rathore, DDG (Edu) Rapporteur: BK Kandpal (NRM) Moderator: H.R. Dave (Dy MD, NABARD) Rapporteur: Ramesh (CAFRI) Moderator: R. Ghodake (APAARI) Rapporteur: Asha Ram (CAFRI) Raj Paroda S. Ayyappan Rapporteurs Tony Simons A.K. Sikka R. Ghodake Co-chairs N.N. Singh