ALMORA: In a first-of-its-kind initiative in Uttarakhand, around one-and-a-half hectares of forest land in the hills of Mukteshwar in Kumaon will be converted into a “food forest”, where chemical-free grains and vegetables will be grown naturally.
Cultivating food in the jungle will boost the forest ecosystem too, officials said. Chief conservator of forests (research) Sanjiv Chaturvedi, who initiated the concept, said, “While ‘food forests’ have been tried out in some parts of south India by NGOs, this is the first time in the country that it is being done at a forest-department level.”
