NEW DELHI, 25 June 2025: A high-level workshop on “Agroforestry for Resilient Rainfed Landscapes” was held today at the National Agricultural Science Centre (NASC) in New Delhi, bringing together policymakers, scientists, and civil society leaders to chart a roadmap for strengthening agroforestry in India’s rainfed regions.
Jointly organized by the National Rainfed Area Authority (NRAA), the Natural Resource Management (NRM) Division of the Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare (DA&FW), and the Revitalising Rainfed Agriculture (RRA) Network, the one-day workshop emphasized the role of agroforestry in building climate-resilient, sustainable, and productive farming systems.
Devesh Chaturvedi, Secretary, DA&FW, inaugurated the event, highlighting agroforestry as a critical solution for addressing land degradation, carbon sequestration, and rural livelihoods in the rainfed landscape, which constitutes over 50% of India’s cultivated area.
The workshop featured insights from leading domain experts, including:
- Dr. P.K. Meherda, CEO, NRAA
- Dr. Susama Sudhishri, Watershed Development Specialist
- Dr. A.K. Mishra, Water Management Expert
- Dr. Pankaj K. Shah, Director (Agriculture & Horticulture)
- Dr. S.D. Singh, Senior Technical Consultant (Agroforestry)
- Dr. Sabyasachi Das, National Coordinator, RRA Network
Key Themes and Strategic Directions
The technical sessions explored a range of pressing issues and innovative ideas across:
- Proven agroforestry models and community-led planning
- Policy reform to remove legal barriers and support ecosystem integration
- Convergence of schemes like MGNREGS, CAMPA, and PMKSY
- Enhancing financial access and industry participation for farmer-led innovation
- Five strategic action points were proposed as a way forward:
- Unlocking carbon markets and incentives for farmers
- Ecosystem-scale planning beyond plantation approaches
- Institutionalizing convergence via a dedicated working group
- Reforming restrictive regulations through localized, legal-ecological solutions
- Achieving land degradation neutrality with bottom-up, inclusive planning
A Call for Collaborative Action
Participants unanimously called for inter-departmental coordination, investment in knowledge-sharing platforms, and policy innovation to realize the full potential of agroforestry.
With rising climate risks and growing pressure on land and water, agroforestry is increasingly seen as a nature-based solution to transform India’s rainfed agriculture, while enhancing incomes, nutrition, and ecosystem services for millions of smallholder farmers.
