“How many congresses have you attended that have school children, farmers, 2 secretaries of agriculture, state ministers of agriculture, 6 ministers of state, 3 cabinet ministers, international laureates and a president?”
This was the question posed by Tony Simons, Director General of the World Agroforestry Centre in opening the second day of the World Congress on Agroforestry.
“What a location, what a country, what an opportunity,” said Simons.
The attendance by more than 1,000 participants from across the globe is evidence of the widespread interest in agroforestry for its multitude of benefits to both smallholder farmers and the environment, but Simons says “to the outside world, the world agroforestry is still unfamiliar.”
Among the key aims of the Congress is “to engage with political, business and development spheres,” outlined Simons, adding that there is a need to rearticulate our agroforestry vocabulary in ways that are relevant to these sectors.
Simons drew attention to the issue of gender, both the low representation of women at the Congress and the small number of presentations dealing with gender in the program. “This needs to change,” he said.
The Congress is being held in Delhi, India from 10 to 14 February 2014, organized by the World Agroforestry Centre, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, the Indian Society of Agroforestry and Global Initiatives.
With a theme of ‘accelerating the impacts of agroforestry’ it is hoped the Congress will build on the legacy of the 2nd congress in 2009 and act as a springboard to building people’s livelihoods, increasing the vitality of the landscape and driving the adoption of large-scale innovations.
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