Agroforestry Training And Carbon Stock Research Held By Yagasu And GEI
YAGASU and GEI (Global Environmental International) held an Agroforestry Training with the theme Agroforestry Camp ‘Enhancing Ecosystem Resilience and Livelihoods’ which was held on 22-25 October 2024 in West Java. Where the place is a lot of Agroforestry planting patterns and suitable for holding camping as well as training, so that training while enjoying the local nature with beautiful scenery. The training organised by YAGASU invites not only from within the country, but YAGASU provides opportunities for East Asian or Southeast Asian countries to participate in this training activity, and countries that participate in this Agroforestry Training include; Indonesia (PRCF Indonesia Foundation and Kennemer Eco Solution), Malaysia (MPOGCF and Malaysian Nature Society), Cambodia (The NGO Forum On Cambodia and NTFP), Laos (VFI and Lao Biodiversity Associate, China (GEI), and participants who attended this training amounted to 11 people plus staff from YAGASU itself.
This training does not only cover Agroforestry planting patterns but YAGASU provides many things in the form of:
- Agroforestry planting pattern
- Carbon stock calculation
- Certified seedlings
- Discussion with the group about Agroforestry Planting
- Discussion about Social business with the group
Starting the training session this time on 22 October 2024 at Grand Sunshine, Soreang. Bambang Suprayogi said, ‘The training was held to establish links between institutions, besides that the technical explanation on the second day included carbon assessment and seedling training.’ The CEO of YAGASU also said, ‘Mr Rudi as the representative of PUREPLANET can be a networking opportunity for cooperation between institutions in ASEAN.’ On the same occasion Yunzhu (GEI) said ‘This networking opportunity can invite many teams especially from Laos, Cambodia, and Malaysia’.
The first day of this activity was filled by all participants by presenting their respective materials regarding the development of agroforestry in their respective countries, including: (The NGO Forum on Cambodia) ‘Gender case studies on women’s participation in community forests (CF) and community protected areas (CPA)’. (NTFP Cambodia) discusses ‘Conserving Natural Resources, Empowering Communities’. (MNS) discusses ‘Impact of Agroforestry: Beyond food security, carbon sequestration and climate mitigation’. (PRCF Foundation) on ‘Working with people to protect their natural environment’. (VFI) talked about ‘Green earth centre, Southern Laos, Laongam District, Saravan Province’. (LBA) talked about ‘Values of the organisation to provide a better life in a well-protected biodiversity and improve the living status of poor ethnic communities in a challenging environment’. (MPOGCF) discussed on ‘Role in supporting Conservation Initiatives in Malaysia’. Dicky Edwin Hindarto (YAGASU) spoke on ‘Indonesia’s Case for Carbon Pricing’. (VERRA) on ‘The Verra Standard on Voluntary Carbon Markets’. (BRIN) on ‘Carbon sequestration potential in agroforestry systems’.
On the second day of the training, all participants visited the Gambung Forest in Pulosari Village, Pangalengan District. On this day, all participants participated in a series of training on Carbon Stock Research in a non-destructive way. There are various types of trees found in the gambung forest including coffee trees, eucalyptus trees, and surian trees. Meilinda (Director of YAGASU) said ‘Colleagues from China, Laos, Cambodia, and Malaysia can gain new knowledge and can simulate carbon stock estimation for land areas, especially in agroforestry areas’. On the same occasion, Mr Siarudin demonstrated the use of tools such as Hagameter for measuring tree height, ring soil sampler for non-destructive soil sampling, Phiband for measuring plant diameter, and collecting leaf litter as organic matter. In collecting data, all participants followed the tallysheet that had been previously distributed.
On the third day, all participants held a class meet again with a discussion about seedlings or seedlings, and all participants conducted training in the form of planting, procedures for grafting seedlings, how to process compost, and how to make agroforestry project proposals. At the beginning of this session Mr Epi (Yagasu Consultant) said ‘Yagasu’s cooperation and activities with the community, including rehabilitation activities, field surveys, community empowerment based on climate change control’. On the same occasion Mr Enjang explained about coffee nurseries and Mr Jejen explained about grafting fruit seedlings. In addition, UPDT Certification and Seeding of Forest Plants (SPTH) also explained its role in providing certified seeds to farmers and community groups in West Java. At the end of the session Arif (Kennemer) said ‘it is hoped that this activity can also be a trigger for the government to implement this method of cooperation. And hopefully in the future it can bring benefits to small farmers’.
On the last day of the training, all participants visited “Kiara Payung” to see examples of Agroforestry planting patterns and discuss with the group that manages the kiara Payung, besides that, participants also visited Kuningan, namely Sayana Village and discussed with the farmer group for discussion of Coffee Business Products that can be produced from the village.
Author : Cahyanto and Gellang
