Agroforestry researchers need to work better with governments, farmers and development partners, according to Shri Krishna Byre Gowda, Minister of Agriculture in Karnataka State in South West India.

Speaking during the recent World Congress on Agroforestry in Delhi, Gowda said policy makers have failed to bridge the gap between researchers and farmers.

The Non-profit Press reports that while agroforestry solutions to meeting global challenges have been developed, scientists, farmers, donors, policy makers and marketers of agroforestry products are working in isolated groups, making it difficult to complete the value chain.

Tony Simons, Director General of the World Agroforestry Centre added that the business case for agroforestry will only thrive in places where there is a coalition of actors working together, sharing information, risk and profits.

“Greater dialogue is needed between policy makers and the private sector, multi-national corporations, aggregators, traders and producers—to create and exploit an enabling business environment,” said Simons.

One positive example is a public private partnership working on the domestication of Allanblackia (an oil-producing tree that grows in some parts of Africa). The World Agroforestry Centre is working alongside Unilever and smallholder farmers in Africa to grow Allanblackia for the international food market.

Read the full story: Congress hears how farmers' livelihoods have been compromised by lack of collaboration