Assam holds workshop to promote agro-forestry at Assam Administrative Staff College, Guwahati

GUWAHATI: A stakeholders' consultation for Agroforestry promotion in Assam was held at the Assam Administrative Staff College, Guwahati today to understand the needs and challenges in the promotion of agroforestry in Assam and to facilitate the exchange of knowledge and best practices in the sector.

Minister for Environment and Forest Chandra Mohan Patowary attended the inaugural session of the state's first-of-its-kind multi-stakeholder consultation workshop on Agroforestry in Guwahati.

Patowary stressed preparing a proper roadmap for the promotion of agroforestry in Assam. He also urged representatives from the industrial sector to come up with agroforestry-based plans so that forest fringe communities and farmers can also be benefitted. He said that the government would make necessary policy changes wherever needed to ensure the benefit of all the stakeholders.

The minister asked the Forest Department to do research work in coordination with Assam Agricultural University to address issues like ecological imbalance, climate change etc., as well as to resolve human-animal conflict in the State.

The minister also inaugurated a flyer on the agroforestry promotion in Assam in the programme.

The Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Environment and Forest, Ravi Shankar Prasad in his speech said that the government has prioritized agroforestry as one of the key activities in the state and hoped that the workshop would be able to draw some kind of roadmap to meet the challenges and issues in this sector.

The one-day consultation workshop was organized by the Assam Agroforestry Development Board in collaboration with the Assam Project on Forest and Biodiversity Conservation (APFBC). APFBC is a statewide conservation initiative between the State Government and 'Agence Française de Développement' (AFD), which focuses on promoting alternative livelihoods through initiatives such as 'Agroforestry', a press release said.

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