Livelihoods at the World Congress on Agroforestry

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Today is the opening day of the World Congress on Agroforestry 2014 (WCA2014) in Delhi, India!

During 4 days, participants will be discovering cutting-edge science and innovative experience in agroforestry. Among the topics to be discussed include: integrative science, transformative change in landscapes, tree improvement, innovative tree-based value chains, and global and local sustainability.

Livelihoods has been invited to share its expertise at the conference! On Tuesday February 11th, Livelihoods Director Bernard Giraud will be a panelist for the plenary session (from 9.00 to 10.30 IST) “Business in the context of science and development”. You can follow it live on the livestream here (and on twitter with #wca2014).

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Livelihoods will be sharing best practices learned from its agroforestry project with the Naandi Foundation in India. Agroforestry, known as “trees on farms”, is an integrated approach of using the interactive benefits from combining trees and shrubs with crops. It creates more productive land-use systems.

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In the Araku Valley, the Naandi Foundation has worked for more than 10 years to improve the livelihoods of the Adivasi tribes – among the most disadvantaged groups in India. Its project with Livelihoods, started in 2010, planted 3 million trees in 2013 that will provide shade for the 3 million coffee plants that will be planted in 2014. This multi-layered forest will benefit 10,000 coffee farmers part of Naandi’s “Small & Marginal Tribal Farmers’ Cooperative” that helps them gain improved access to market by selling their coffee internationally under the label Araku Originals Ltd. You can even find their coffee in Paris!