Stakeholder Consultation for Upscaling Agroforestry and Organic Farming in Guwahati, Assam

The Economics of Ecosystem and Biodiversity (TEEB) AgriFood project:
ICAR-Central Agroforestry Research Institute (CAFRI), Jhansi in the capacity of implementing partner for The Economics of Ecosystem and Biodiversity (TEEB) AgriFood project in Assam organized a one-day stakeholders’ consultation at NIRD& amp; PR, NERC, Guwahati in collaboration with South Asian Forum for Environment (SAFE) and Progyan Foundation For Research & Innovation (PFRI), India on 15 th September 2023. The objective was to discuss and deliberate on the policy and climate scenario setting for upscaling organic farming and agroforestry in the State of Assam. It may be mentioned that TEEB is a global initiative of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) aims to recognize, demonstrate and capture the values of ecosystems and biodiversity in both monetary and non-monetary terms. The TEEB for Agriculture and Food (TEEB AgriFood) Initiative in India is studying the environmental and socioeconomic costs and benefits of scaling programmatic interventions on organic farming and agroforestry through a holistic assessment of natural, produced, human and social capitals under the guidance of Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, Govt. of India.
Initiating the meeting, Dr. A. Arunachalam, Director, ICAR-CAFRI, Jhansi gave a brief outline of the TEEBAgriFood and requested all the delegates to contribute effectively for developing short term and long-term scenarios for upscaling of agroforestry and organic farming. Mr. Willam Speller, Programme Officer, UNEP, Geneva explained the principals of linking science and policy making by taking into considerations of natural, produced, human and societal capitals. Dr. Alka Bhargav, Senior Policy Advisor, UNEP along with Mr. Reuben Guergan, Programme Officer, UNEP spoke in details about the expectations and scoping requirements under this initiative. Dr. B. C. Deka, VC, Assam Agriculture University, Jorhat during his opening remarks spoke briefly about challenges for organic farming and agroforestry in Assam and extended all support for this initiative. ICAR-CAFRI presented an overview of various elements based on the secondary data available across various sources and presented a tentative scenario under Business as Usual (BAU), Optimistic and Pessimistic for upscaling agroforestry and organic farming in the State.
Different officers from major state government departments representing agriculture, horticulture, forest, soil conservation, wood-based industries, state bamboo mission entrepreneurs, progressive farmers, research institutions, universities and voluntary organization involved in agroforestry and organic farming in the State participated and deliberated in details about various options of organic farming and agroforestry and challenges under different agro-climatic conditions prevalent in Assam. Altogether over 80 delegates (physically and online mode) dealt in details on the diverse elements including the climate perspective that are presently the areas of major concern for organic farming and agroforestry.
The consultation also dwelt in details on elements of capital assessment, methodology and data sources and indicative parameters and action plan for TEEBAgriFood Learning Landscape. The points emerged from the day long deliberations will help in building evidence-based preparation of scoping report for upscaling of Organic farming and agroforestry in the State of Assam.