More than 1,000 tree growers from Coimbatore, Tiruppur, Erode, and Salem participated in a two-day ‘Tree Growers’ Mela’ that concluded at the Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding (IFGTB) here on Wednesday.
I. Anwardeen, Director of Tamil Nadu Forest Academy (TNFA), Coimbatore, and N. Krishnakumar, Former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Head of Forest Force, were the chief guest and guest of honour respectively at the event.
The mela was organised in collaboration with the Forest Department, Tamil Nadu Newsprint and Papers Limited (TNPL), Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) and NGOs, a press release said.
Theme
The theme for the first day was ‘Clonal Farm Forestry for Increased Productivity’, which targeted registered farmers from wood-based industries. Technical sessions on cultivation practices and timber marketing were arranged to address the queries of the tree growers. An exhibition on tree cultivation technologies, clonal technologies, nursery management, timber procurement and products of IFGTB was arranged for the farmers at the event.
Award
During the inaugural event, S. Murugesan, Director of IFGTB, received an award for the best research institute of the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE), as IFGTB received the first rank among the ICFRE institutes in the country, the press release said.
The mela was organised by Extension Division of thenIFGTB headed by Rajesh Gopalan, Chief Conservator of Forests and Head of Extension Division, according to the release.
On Wednesday, Debasis Jana, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Coimbatore Circle), addressed the participants.
