Farmers urged to go for agroforestry to grow trees

Vijayawada: State Forest Utilisation Officer Vijay Kumar inaugurating the workshop here on Tuesday on the Trees Outside Forests in India (TOFI) programme, organised by the Centre for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF) in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM), Bhopal, shared his experiences in the state and discussed how initiatives like the TOFI and PRAMAAN schemes can foster a more climate-resilient southern region while creating employment opportunities for the local youth.

Earlier, Dr Manmohan Yadav, Dean, Faculty at the Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM), Bhopal outlined the meeting’s objectives, which included promoting sustainable management of Trees Outside Forests, raising awareness, addressing trade-related challenges, and refining TOF management and certification standards. The farmers could get certification for trees and export them.

This initiative is part of the Trees Outside Forests in India (TOFI) programme, five-year collaboration between the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and India’s Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change (MOEFCC), implemented by CIFOR-ICRAF.

The PRAMAAN Scheme is a national certification scheme that offers voluntary third-party certification for forest management.

E Venkat Reddy, Director of Institute of Forest Biodiversity, Hyderabad, Ashish Mishra, Vice-President, Greenlam Industries, L Ajith Chonachalam, State Coordinator of TOFI and resource persons from the Andhra Pradesh State Forest Department, Agriculture and Horticulture departments, Institute of Forest Biodiversity, Telangana State Forest Development Corporation, Odisha Forest Development Corporation, Forest College and Research Institute, Mulugu and others were present.