Greening and Restoration of Wasteland with Agroforestry (GROW) report and portal was launched by NITI Aayog.
- This multi-institutional effort led by NITI Aayog utilized remote sensing and GIS to assess agroforestry suitability across all districts in India.
- Using thematic datasets, an Agroforestry Suitability Index (ASI) was developed for national-level prioritization.
- The report provides state-wise and district-wise analysis, supporting government departments and industries for greening and restoration projects. allows universal access to state and district-level data.
- Currently, agroforestry covers 8.65% of India’s total geographical area, totalling about 28.42 million hectares.
- The GROW initiative aligns with national commitments, aiming to restore 26 million hectares of degraded land by 2030 and create an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.
- India, the pioneer of the National Agroforestry Policy in 2014, aims to enhance productivity, profitability, and sustainability through this agroecological land use system.
Agroforestry
- Agroforestry is a collective name for land-use systems and technologies where woody perennials (trees, shrubs, palms, bamboos, etc.) are deliberately used on the same land-management units as agricultural crops and/or animals, in some form of spatial arrangement or temporal sequence.
- Agrisilvicultural systems are a combination of crops and trees, such as alley cropping or homegardens.
- Silvopastoral systems combine forestry and grazing of domesticated animals on pastures, rangelands or on-farm.
