In line with the Uttar Pradesh government’s ambitious target of planting 35 crores trees in the state by the year end, Firozabad is growing its first ever urban food forest.
The initiative of increasing the green cover in the largest state of the country was kicked off on 5 July with a mass plantation drive of 25 crore trees. On 6 and 7 July, 2.5 crores trees were planted on each day and ‘shakti vans’ were created all over the state. The government has asked all 76 districts in the state to achieve their target of planting trees and increase the green cover in their areas.
Firozabad, near Agra, is one of the districts where urban fruit forests are being developed. Moreover, it is the first time Firozabad will have an urban fruit forest and most of the credit goes to 2019-batch IFS officer Vikash Nayak, who is the District Forest Officer (DFO) and IRTS officer Sanjay Kumar who helped in granting a vacant railway department land where this forest can be grown.
CONVERGENCE OF FOREST AND RAILWAYS
Tundla, a town in Firozabad district, was often noticed to have less green cover in comparison to other towns in the district. While talking to Indian Masterminds, IRTS officer Sanjay Kumar, Division Traffic Manager, Tundla, said “There were several empty patches in the railway yards, colonies, and even at the open spaces of various houses in Tundla. We wanted to create mini urban forest in the area so as to increase the green cover which is comparatively less. Also, creating an urban fruit/food forest in the district was among the main priorities and targets of the forest department.”
DFO Firozabad, Vikash Nayak, told Indian Masterminds, “We were in need of a well-protected land where animal won’t be able to graze, with some irrigation facility. We also wanted people to take up the responsibility of taking care of the plants as to protect them. And, Sanjay Kumar sir came with a helping hand and mentioned about the land which was lying vacant in the railway yard and colony of Tundla railway department.”
A workforce of the forest department along with farmers and scientists inspected the vacant land and gave the green signal to take up the initiative, which will not only create a mini forest but also help the farmers in making a good livelihood out of fruit/food forests.
DFO Nayak said, “We wanted to create a culture of developing food forest to inspire farmers in urban areas to adopt such technique and make a good livelihood.”
PLANTATION
Firozabad has been working on achieving the 47-lakh target of planting trees this year. However, this unique step of creating a food forest in an urban area is being taken up for the first time. The vacant land in the Tundla Railway Colony was granted by the railway department and pits were dug up for plantation. Around 600 trees were planted with the help of both the forest and the railway department and five different species of fruits like guava, pomegranate, jamun, tamarind, etc., were planted.
Mr. Nayak said, “With the cooperation of IRTS officer Sanjay Kumar, we will continue with such initiatives on other vacant lands under the Tundla railways and inspire more people to develop food forests.”
