Aaranyak organised a one-day training programme and sapling distribution event at Jaikhlong Community Nursery in Badlapara, Udalguri district of Assam, established by Aaranyak under the aegis of UNDP-GEF Small Grant Programme and Ministry of Environment Forest & Climate Change (MoEFCC), Govt. of India, implemented by TERI.
The programme conducted on September 22, witnessed a participation of 26 individuals gathered from Badlapara, Samrang and Sonajuli villages.
The main focus of the training was on tools and techniques used for the improvement of homestead gardens and knowledge, skill exposure to vermicompost, soil less germination and plant propagation techniques.
A total of 413 saplings from Jaiklong Community Nursery were distributed for homestead gardens comprising seven species including Passiflora edulis (Passion Fruit), Dillenia indica (Elephant Apple), Piper nigrum (Black Pepper), Gmelina arborea (Gamari), Citrus limon (Assam Lemon), Mesua ferrea (Nahar), and Terminalia arjuna (Arjun).
Farm based practices are the largely impacted livelihood for the community of the area due to water scarcity, dry soil and human-wildlife conflict (HWC) and to top it all the area falls under the Bhabar zone.
Jayanta Kr. Pathak, Senior Manager of Aaranyak’s Environment Education and Capacity Building Division discussed the contributions of UNDP, MoEFCC and TERI to biodiversity conservation and livelihood generation nationally and globally.
Mr Pathak also discussed on establishment of vermicomposting unit and its potential in the homestead garden. He also encouraged and motivated the beneficiaries to engage in exchange of commodities between the nursery and homestead beneficiaries to meet their needs, such as exchanging cow manure from the homestead (cattle owners) for saplings from the nursery. Premila Narzary, executive member from Jaikhlong Nursery and Aaranyak’s Haben Mochahari demonstrated the scientific seeding bed preparation for soil-less germination in the nursery using vermicomposting sand and cocopeat and was well received by the participants.
At the end of the program, Mr. Pathak interacted with the members of the Jaikhong Community Nursery, providing an overview of the project’s financial expenditures to date and addressed their concerns. The programme was conducted by Aaranyak’s officials, Jayanta Kumar Pathak, Tikendrajit Gogoi, Rabiya Daimari, and Haben Mochahari.
