ICAR-CCARI, Old Goa celebrated ‘Tree Planting Campaign’ under Bharat Ka Amrut Mahotsav on the occasion of 93rd ICAR Foundation Day

ICAR-Central Coastal Agricultural Research Institute, Old Goa organised a ‘Tree planting campaign’ on 16th July 2021 at 10:30 am on the occasion of 93rd ICAR Foundation Day under Bharat Ka Amrut Mahotsav as 75th year of Independence of India. Dr. Parveen Kumar, Director, ICAR-CCARI, Goa greeted all the participants of programme on ICAR foundation Day. He highlighted the importance of planting trees from environmental and ecological sustainability point of view and for improving farmer’s livelihood. The Sub-Mission on Agroforestry (SMAF) was launched in 2016-17 to encourage and expand tree plantation on farm lands, with the motto of “Har Med Par Ped”, along with crops/ cropping system, as the agroforestry helps in creating additional source of income to farmers and carbon sequestration. The tree farming is being promoted by the government, for which, suitable areas including bunds and boundaries are to be identified and to be planted with ecologically suitable species. The choice of species to be grown on bunds and boundaries is different based on the agro-climatic regions. The tree species with faster growth, deep root system and requiring lesser water and with productive tree-crop interaction are required to suit to the space availability on the bunds and boundaries and are preferred without compromising the farmers land for field crop production. The main objective is to improve the productivity, ecosystem services and improve the livelihood security of farmers. On this occasion, tree planting was done and a drive was initiated to plant 200 trees of different species including teak on the bunds of the C Block of the Institute. About 50 seedlings of the teak were provided by the Department of Forest, Government of Goa, Goa. A total of 50 participants were present on the occasion and all actively participated in the tree plantation campaign. A brief talk was also delivered on ‘Har Med Pe Ped’ for improving livelihood of the farmers.