ITANAGAR, 10 Sep: The Northeast regional centre (NERC) of the GB Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment (GBPNIHE) organized a lecture session to mark its annual day here on 10 September.
Jorhat (Assam)-based Rain Forest Research Institute’s director Dr RSC Jayaraj, who was the speaker, delivered a lecture on ‘Prospects of agarwood cultivation and utilization in Northeast India’.
Providing an overview of the potential and importance of agarwood cultivation in Southeast Asia and Northeast India, he “described various techniques for agarwood processing towards the value-added products,” the NERC informed in a release.
Dr Jayaraj emphasized on meeting various important parameters, such as soil type, temperature, seed quality, nursery preparation, etc, for cultivation of agarwood. “We need to think about the plantation in barren land but not in the agricultural land,” he said, adding that “we also need to look into the integration of agarwood cultivation with agroforestry with scientific studies.”
Dr Jayaraj also spoke about the legal requirements and provisions with regard to “trading in agarwood produce and its future prospects.”
Former Arunachal PPCF Rabindra Kumar dwelt on the initiatives taken by the state government for cultivation of agarwood in selected areas of Arunachal. “We need to think positively on cultivation and policies for sustainable utilization of agarwood in Arunachal Pradesh,” he said.
Earlier, NERC head MS Lodhi presented a brief on the institute’s mandate and R&D activities in the Indian Himalayan region. He also highlighted the R&D activities carried out by NERC in the Northeast.
Over 50 participants from the ZSI-APRC, the BSI-APRC, the state council for science and technology, the CSIR-NEIST, and the DBT-APSCS&T Centre of Excellence for Bioresource and Sustainable Development attended the programme.
