CSR: Dabur and CIFOR-ICRAF to promote agroforestry and trees outside forest areas in India

New Delhi, India: India’s leading Science-based Ayurveda company Dabur India Limited today joined hands with the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and World Agroforestry (ICRAF) to roll out a mega initiative aimed at improving trees, fruits, medicinal and aromatic plantation practices on farms, outside forests areas, using agroforestry across Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Assam and Tamil Nadu.

The initiative, which will play a critical role in increasing the tree cover outside demarcated forest areas and on farmlands, will go a long way towards helping India to achieve climate mitigation targets in the forestry sector, while also supporting sustainable livelihoods for communities.

“At Dabur, nature is the lifeline of our business. With a range of products based on nature and natural ingredients, we depend on nature’s bounty to deliver on our promise of delivering holistic health & well-being to every household. Managing natural resources sustainably comes naturally to us and we encourage the same across our value chain. Dabur is proud to be partnering with CIFOR-ICRAF on boosting agroforestry and trees outside forests. This is a step forward in our Environment Sustainability strategy of preserving ecosystems and halting land degradation the accelerated loss of biodiversity,” Dabur India Ltd Chief Executive Officer Mr. Mohit Malhotra said.

Under this project, Dabur will focus on the domestication of selected medicinal tree species and medicinal plants, besides establishing satellite nurseries in states to ensure the availability of quality planting material for the selected plant species.

CIFOR-ICRAF is leading the implementation of the Trees Outside Forests in India (TOFI) Program, which is a five-year joint initiative of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), Government of India under the bilateral agreement on Sustainable Forestry and Climate Adaptation.

The main goal of the TOFI program is to significantly expand the area under trees outside forests thereby, enhancing livelihoods and ecosystem services in the seven participating states- Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Haryana, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, and Uttar Pradesh. The initial phase of the collaboration with Dabur will be initiated through the TOFI Program.

Dr Ravi Prabhu, Director General a.i., ICRAF said: “We are glad to collaborate with India’s leading science-based Ayurveda company-Dabur India Limited. Through this partnership, we look forward to developing a partnership through which smallholders and tree growers in participating states are enabled to produce the kinds of tree-based raw materials required by Dabur. This will not only help in augmenting the livelihoods of the smallholders but will also promote sustainable production and harvesting of tree-based products of medicinal value while supporting India’s larger development goals and NDC targets.”

Other priority activities under the agreement include developing a business model through which Dabur can buy back the final produce from the community; and developing optimum harvesting protocols for commercially important medicinal plants.

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