ICFRE - Himalayan Forest Research Institute

AGRO-FORESTRY & EXTENSION ACTIVITIES

• Important indigenous multipurpose species from agro forestry point of view like Grewia optiva (Beul), Ulmus laevigata, Bauhinia variegata (Kachnar) and fast growing exotics including Populus deltoides (mainly clones G3 & G48) were propagated in nurseries and distributed to the farmers in the selected villages in Paonta Valley and Bath Valley for Planting as per the designated agroforestry model.

• Suitable agroforestry models developed in the farmer's fields and distributed more than 5 lacs ETPs of Poplar to the farmers free of cost during 1993-2000 along-with technical knowhow.

Traditional Agroforestry Practice in Hills of HP	Developed Agroforestry Model

• Intercropping models for high hill temperate regions:  

Till recently growing of temperate fruits was lucrative business Himachal Pradesh but continuous failure of these fruit crops due to erratic rainfall accompanied with very less snow fall, increased incidence of various insect pest and diseases attacks, overall rising temperature and decreasing forest areas of the region, shortened chilling hours required by the apple trees during winter for optimum flowering and fruit setting thereby resulting in low yields and lower qualities have forced the farmers/ horticulturist to look for some other alternatives to supplement their income through diversification. The Institute worked on these lines and through scientific inputs developed suitable intercropping model for commercially important medicinal plants viz. Aconitum heterophyllum (Atish), Valeriana jatamansi (Muskbala), Picrorhiza kurrooa (Kutki), Polygonetum verticillatum (Salam misri) and Angelica glauca (Chora) with horticultural plantations in high hill temperate region of Himachal Pradesh to help farmers in augmenting their income besides helping in productivity enhancement per unit area of land.

• “National Seminar on Hill Bamboo- An Important Resource for Improving Rural Livelihood” was organized at Manali from October17 to 18, 2014. Professionals from State Forest Departments, Universities, Research Organizations, NGO’s etc., participated in the workshop.

     "Exhibition cum Craft Mela of Hill Bamboo Products" was organized from 16.10.2014 to 20.10.2014 (5 days) at Wildlife Information and Interpretation Centre, (near MC Office), Manali, district Kullu, Himachal Pradesh. About 25 bamboo artisans from Uttrakhand and Himachal Pradesh exhibited their products in the exhibition.

• Seminar on “Insect-pests and Diseases: Their Incidences and Management in Forest Ecosystem” was organized at HFRI, Shimla on 25th and 26th May, 2011. Professionals from State Forest Departments, Universities, and Research Organizations etc. participated in the workshop.

•  ‘3rd e-Champion’s Workshop cum Training on Indian Forestry Research Information System (IFRIS)’ was organized from 29th September, 2008 to 3rd October, 2009 at Himalayan Forest research Institute, Shimla (H.P.). e-Champions from ICFRE (HQs) and all ICFRE institutes participated in the workshop.
• Symposium on “Forest Insect-pest and Disease Management in Northwest Himalayas” was organized at HFRI, Shimla on 10th and 11th January, 2008. Professionals from Universities, Research Organizations, State Forest Departments etc., participated in the workshop.

• Workshop on ‘Sustainable Land Use Planning through Geographical Information System (GIS) Application’ sponsored by State Land Use Board (SLUB), Govt. of Himachal Pradesh at HFRI, Shimla on dated 7th September 2007. Professionals from State Forest Departments, Universities, Remote Sensing, Forest Survey of India, Research Organizations etc. participated in the workshop.
• Workshop on “Status and Potential of Agroforestry in North-Western Himalayas” sponsored by State Land Use Board, State Forest Department, Government of Himachal Pradesh at HFRI, Shimla from 14 - 16 November, 2006.  Professionals from State Forest Departments, Universities, Research Organizations etc., participated in the workshop.

• “Regional Workshop on Forestry Extension Strategy Review” was organized at HFRI, Shimla on dated 27th December, 2005. Professionals from State Forest Department, Universities, Research Organizations, Officers from Agriculture, Horticulture, Animal Husbandry, Rural Development etc. from the state of Himachal Pradesh participated in the workshop.

• Interactions with Stakeholders: workshops/ stakeholders meetings to, "Develop Better Linkages in Forestry Research" are annually being organized by the institute. Officers from State Forest Department of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir, Professionals from Universities/ Research Organizations, NGO’s, Farmers etc. participated in such meetings. 

• Workshop cum Peer Review on Poplar: Scientists from all the institutes of the ICFRE and Professors from those universities where ICFRE has extended research grant fund projects participated in the workshop. 
• Workshop - cum - Peer Review on Chir Pine: Scientists from the different institutes of the ICFRE along with the University Professors and Officers of State Forest Departments of H.P. and J. & K. participated in the workshop.
• Training on Planting Stock Improvement Programme: Trainings on better management of Seed Production Areas, Seedling Seed Orchards, Clonal Seed Orchards and Vegetative Multiplication Gardens were imparted to the officials of State Forest Departments of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir. 
• Training on conservation of Hill Bamboo: A self financed training course on better conservation and management of Hill Bamboo was imparted to the officials of State Forest Corporation of Himachal Pradesh.

• Workshop - cum - Peer Review on Forest Entomology & Biological Control: Scientists from various institutes of the ICFRE along with the University Professors participated in the workshop. 
• Dissemination of research achievements to its end users: Institute's visit are being organized for the Range Officers/ Foresters/ Forest Guards of the various forest departments, university/ college/ school students, farmers etc., to disseminate the research findings. 

• Workshop on Research Priority settings: To enlist the forestry research priorities for the area under institute's jurisdiction a workshop was conducted in which Forest Officers, University Professors and Scientists from the entire nation participated. 
• Celebration on State Tree: Deodar has been identified as the state tree of Himachal Pradesh and J&K. To commemorate the 50th year of India's Independence school level programmes pertaining to Quiz Competition, on spot Paintings, Essay writing etc. were conducted and importance and relevance of the tree was highlighted to the children at Sacred Heart Public school, Tara Hall, Shimla. 
• Programmes for school students: Institute conducts environmental awareness programmes to the school/ college students as its regular feature. Students make themselves acquainted with flora and fauna of the region, important aromatic and medicinal plants and their uses, methodology of herbarium preparation, working with basic instruments, advances in IT etc. through these programs.

• Programmes for the Farmers: Institute under UNDP programme arranged a tour programme for the farmers to Pant Nagar University and WIMCO at Rudrapur (Uttranchal) for providing them an opportunity to gather the latest technical know-how in agroforestry. Institute also organised Kisan Melas for the farmers at Paonta Sahib and Sunder Nagar in HP. Besides exposure visits of farmers from Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir were organized to the Forest Research Institute Dehradun, Herbal Market Haridwar, Hara Farms Jagadhari, UHF Research center at Dhaulakuan (Paonta sahib).

• Socioeconomic upliftment of the rural Women: Under the IDRC project sewing programmes were organized for the women affected by the mining activities, in Sirmaur District of Himachal Pradesh.

• Display of Institute's Activities: An interpretation center in collaboration with H.P. Forest Department at Saurabh Vana Vihar, Palampur where research achievements/ technologies developed and projects undertaken by the institute has been displayed in the form of self explanatory exhibits. 
• Demonstration plots: Institute has maintained demonstration plots for its end users, important one of these are, 'limestone mine rehabilitation plot, Baldwa', 'poplar demonstration plots at Paonta and Pirdivihal, Kullu', 'Seed Orchards of Shisham and Chir Pine', 'Vegetative Multiplication Garden of Shisham at Birplasi, Nalagarh', 'Plantation of Chilgoza Pine', ‘100 hectare demonstration plot of Dendrocalamus hamiltonii in district Solan’ Demonstration Plantations of Salix in Lahaul’, ‘Demonstration plots of G. arborea in Johron (Paonta Sahib) and Kot (Hamirpur) in HP and at Sambha and Nudd in Jammu & Kashmir,’ Paulownia demonstration in Kangra and Kullu districts of HP” .

Demonstration Plots of Popular