Dabur joins hands with CIFOR-ICRAF to promote agroforestry and trees outside forests in India

Indian science-based ayurveda company Dabur India has 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 achieve climate mitigation targets in the forestry sector while 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. It is a step forward in our Environment Sustainability strategy of preserving ecosystems and halting land degradation and the accelerated loss of biodiversity,” said Mohit Malhotra, chief executive officer, Dabur India.

Under this project, Dabur will focus on 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. It 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.

Ravi Prabhu, director general a.i., ICRAF said, “We are glad to collaborate with India’s leading science-based Ayurveda company-Dabur India. 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 product from the community and developing optimum harvesting protocols for commercially important medicinal plants.