A two-day agro forestry workshop held at the College of Forestry, Kerala Agricultural University, recommended the establishment of the State Agroforestry Board and Farm Forestry Department under the Ministry of Agriculture for promoting Agroforestry in the State.
The workshop stressed the need to revitalise traditional home gardens in the State with multi-purpose tree species.
Revitalisation of traditional home gardens, industrial agroforestry, bamboo- based agroforestry, and integration of high value timber trees and medicinal plants in farmlands would help provide economic security to the farmers while ensuring ecological and environmental sustainability. To realise this objective, agroforestry research, extension, and capacity building should be strengthened. Promoting sustainable agroforestry would lead to enhanced availability of renewable biomass-based energy, the workshop observed.
Ensuring quality planting materials and providing institutional credit and insurance cover for agroforestry crops and products were among the other issues stressed.
It also recommended the creation of a database on area under agroforestry, number and standing stock of trees under agroforestry, and incentives to farmers for ecosystem services via agroforestry through appropriate payment mechanism.
P.K. Kesavan, Chief Conservator of Forests, inaugurated the workshop and R. Chandrababu, Vice Chancellor, KAU, presided.
