The Indian Farm Forestry Development Cooperative limited (IFFDC), Gurgaon, is doing commendable work on afforestation and development of wasteland through tree plantation. The Forest Research Institute silviculture division head Neelu Gera said this here on Tuesday.
The division head said this at a short-term training on forestry management for field staff being organised by the silviculture division on special request from the IFFDC project coordinator with 25 personnel of IFFDC from the States of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan attending it.
Addressing the participants Gera commended the cooperative while opining that the IFFDC is also contributing towards enhancing the socio-economic status of rural poor through sustainable Natural Resource Management by means of collective action of the society. The training being imparted at the institute in Dehradun will provide scientific inputs on nursery raising and plantation management, said Gera while also expressing hope that the participants would benefit from such courses and gain knowledge from the scientific inputs on various aspects.
Addressing the gathering on the occasion, the IFFDC Gurgaon executive Deepti referred to the various plantation activities of the IFFDC in the stakeholder states in India while also briefly explaining about the afforestation and farm-forestry activities of the cooperative. She further averred that the cooperative had developed thousands of hectares of wastelands as farm forestry through different cooperatives in different states thus providing employment opportunities to marginalised sections of society.
Expressing his views, the IFFDC coordinator Ashish Kumar also spoke on the occasion. Earlier, the course coordinator Ombir Singh, presented a detailed report of the course and told that more emphasis is being laid on practical exposure in nursery and plantation activities. The training module includes focus on the techniques of seed handling and dormancy pre-treatments, seed storage, different agroforestry models, nursery techniques of important tree species of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, medicinal plants in agro-forestry with practical exposure in nursery and field. The training lectures also include subjects like soil fertility management in nursery and plantations, afforestation of difficult sites and management of fungal and insect-pest diseases in nursery and plantations, he added.