This site uses cookies, as explained in our terms of use. If you consent, please close this message and continue to use this site.
1 min Read
Agroforestry, the cultivation of trees and agricultural crops in close combination with one another, is an ancient practice used by farmers throughout the world. It produces food and sustains livelihoods, while also enhancing biodiversity and conservation, improving soil and water quality, and controlling erosion. In addition, when strategically applied on a large scale, agroforestry enables agricultural lands to withstand weather events, such as floods and droughts, and even climate change.
In recognition of the benefits of agroforestry, ICIMOD, through its REDD+ Initiative, is promoting the intercropping of paulownia, a deciduous hardwood, and coffee on agricultural lands in Gorkha and Chitwan. A total of 5,000 paulownia (Paulownia tomentosa) trees and 5,000 coffee (Coffee Arabica) saplings have been distributed in Gorkha and Chitwan. Paulownia was ordered from the Himalayan Parbat Nursery at Godavari, while coffee saplings were bought from the Organic Coffee Nursery at Thula Pokhara, Arghakhanchi district. The paulownia saplings will be planted by local communities on farm land and in degraded community forests, religious forests, and school compounds, where they will sequester carbon and provide timber, thereby reducing the pressure on natural forests and contributing to biodiversity conservation. The coffee saplings will be planted on private land only and will generate income after four years.
ICIMOD will monitor these agroforestry demonstration sites every four months for up to two years. By 2016, it is expected that many of these sites should be well established, as local communities have shown great enthusiasm for testing this new agroforestry system. If this system is successful, then bee hives and coffee beans processing machines can be co-financed by the project. The success of this model will determine its replicability. This activity has fostered a deeper bond between ICIMOD and the communities in the REDD+ sites. Even earthquake-affected villages have seen this as a great opportunity for rebuilding their farm lands. Such agroforestry systems is one REDD intervention strategy with local co-benefits.
Share
Stay up to date on what’s happening around the HKH with our most recent publications and find out how you can help by subscribing to our mailing list.
related contents
A national consultation workshop on a social Code of Conduct (CoC) for Nepal’s brick sector was held in Kathmandu on ...
ICIMOD, AKAH, and GB-DMA signed a tripartite agreement at a partnership-signing ceremony in Islamabad on 27 February 2018. The team ...
Carried out in coordination with partners including WWF-Pakistan and Agha Khan Agency for Habitat (AKAH), these efforts have strengthened service ...
The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), in collaboration with various national and international ...
A workshop on Brick Kilns Policy and Advocacy Network (PAN) was jointly organized by Climate and Clean Air ...
More than 50 researchers from institutions around the world convened in Dhulikhel, Nepal, this week to make a major push ...
Discussions on the preliminary findings of a recent socio-economic survey conducted on 1,600 households in 11 districts around the Koshi ...
ICIMOD, as a regional intergovernmental learning and knowledge sharing centre in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region, has taken various steps ...