A Consortium of Industrial Agroforestry was launched today at Forest College and Research Institute, a constituent college of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), at Mettupalayam.
A consortium of this type would help bring farmers, research institutes, wood based industries, nursery entrepreneurs, producer organizations, forest department,tree grower societies, NGOs, banks and insurance companies on a single platform under National Agricultural Innovation Project (NAIP), Dr K T Parthiban, Consortium Co-ordinator, said.
He said developments in Industrial agroforestry laying, with particular emphasis on creation of viable and sustainable linkages between farmers and the wood based industries has led to a win-win situation for both.
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R Ezekiel, NAIP National Coordinator, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Delhi, said that out of the 51 value chain systems created through NAIP, Industrial Agroforestry created by TNAU ranked among the best.
He stressed the need to do research driven by the needs of industry and said the success of this value chain was due to the active and meaningful participation of industries.
Dr N Krishnakumar, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Administration), lauded efforts by the institute which has improved livelihood of the farming community besides helping increasing green cover of the State.
With the mounting challenges for agriculture, the need for diversification was much needed and tree cultivation was one of the prominent options, he said.
Dr K Ramasamy, Vice Chancellor, TNAU highlighted the need to take up mass tree planting by greening the villages and urged scientists to adopt villages for this purpose. Such programs would be successful only when species of people's choice were selected, he said.
