Board of Trustees for CIFOR-ICRAF visited the FLD trial of ICAR-CCARI, Goa 

    On the 3rd December, 2022, Board of Trustees (BoT) for CIFOR- ICRAF visited the Front Line Demonstration (FLD) trial of released varieties and promising superior lines of cashew established by ICAR-CCARI, Goa, at Ziltawadi, Canacona, Goa. The field trial have been established in a participatory model with scheduled tribe farmers of the Ziltawadi Farmer Self Help Group under the Scheduled Tribe Component funded by the Government of India. The Board members who visited the FLDs are Doris Capistrano, Vice Chair from Philippines; Alexander Muller, Trustee from Germany; Kaoru Kitajima, Trustee from Japan; Marja- Liisa Tapio- Bistrom, Trustee from Finland; Vijai Sharma, Trustee from India; Kathleen Merrigan, Trustee from India; Ravi Prabhu, Director General, ICRAF; Robert Nasi, Director General, CIFOR; Javed Rizvi, Director, Asia, CIFOR-ICRAF; Idah Ogoso, Head of Human Resources, CIFOR-ICRAF; Kumar Tumuluru, Director of Corporate Services, CIFOR-ICRAF; John Colmey, Managing Director, Global Landscapes Forum; Chandrashekar Biradar, Country Director, India and Shiv Kumar Dhyani, Country Coordinator, India CIFOR-ICRAF. The BoT members interacted with the tribal farmers and appreciated the work done by the ICAR-CCARI, team in promoting plantation-based agroforestry systems, viz., cashew-based agroforestry systems and coconut-arecanut-based agroforestry systems, for the upliftment of small and marginal farmers in coastal regions of India. The members acquainted themselves about generating various technical interventions (high yielding varieties, good agricultural practices, farm mechanization, capacity building) imparted by the ICAR-CCARI, Goa for generating sustainable livelihood from above mentioned agroforestry systems. Trustees were also happy to see the gender equality participatory model of agroforestry system management. The field visit was coordinated by Dr. A. R. Desai, Principal Scientist (Horticulture), Dr. R. Solomon Rajkumar, Senior Scientist (Livestock Products Technology), and Dr. Uthappa, A. R., Scientist (Agroforestry), ICAR-CCARI, Goa with the technical assistance of Shri Sidharth Marathe Senior Technical Officer and Shri Vishwajeet P Technical Officer (Computer).