Introduction of speakers by Dr. R. Vasudeva, Nodal officer, IDP, CoF, Sirsi.
This national webinar, aimed at creating awareness and augmenting knowledge about newer opportunities in the field of trees based entrepreneurial development in forestry, was conducted on 29th Aug 2020. This four-hour long webinar was well attended by the teaching staff and students from all over India with a record registration of 437. Inaugurating the webinar, the Hon’ble Vice chancellor of UAHS, Shimoga Dr. M. K. Naik urged the students to undertake agro-forestry based entrepreneurial jobs. The Hon’ble Vice Chancellor of UAS Dharwad, Dr. M. B. Chetti emphasised the need for a thorough review of the Tree Based Agri-business sector to get clarity on the opportunity. Four well known resource persons shared their knowledge and experience in the technical sessions. Dr Nicodemus spoke on the “Importance of Casuaria in tree based entrepreneurial development” and showcased the model entrepreneurs from Tamilnadu which was very well appreciated by the students. Dr. Ashotosh, speaking on “Tree cultivation as a new entrepreneurial opportunity”, emphasised on the out-of-box- ideas to perceived in the field. The topic on “Corporate sandalwood cultivation” was covered by Dr Shridhar and narrated the new profit making opportunities in the field of sandal cultivation as a business. Finally, Dr. Nagaraj Hegde spoke on “Wood utilization in Mizoram”. The Question and Answer session was also well attended, and several doubts were cleared.