Some of the people at Shikha Eco-Learning-Village and Shicol have recently become interested in agroforestry, where agriculture is combined with planting trees. We are trying to get to know different approaches like Fruit Forests (with several layers of lower and taller types of produce-yielding plants and trees) and Analogue Forests (an approach focused on biodiversity originating from Sri Lanka).

The team led by Sibaji Panda has selected a site to start its first experiment in agroforestry. The first steps have been to survey the site as a whole, and then dig a 20ft deep well at the most suitable place. After some complications with rocks coming in the way of digging, good quality water is now secured, and we can think about the next steps.