Rainfed Agroforestry as an Integrated Farming System: Farmer Samir Bordoloi with the Green Commandos Forum Practices in North East India – A Resilient Youth-Led Movement

 

In the diverse landscapes of North East India, the Green Commandos Forum (GCF) has pioneered a resilient, youth-driven approach to sustainable agriculture through rainfed agroforestry integrated farming systems. By combining traditional knowledge with modern agroecological practices, the forum empowers young farmers to cultivate multiple crops, trees, and livestock in harmony, optimizing soil health, water use, and biodiversity. These integrated systems not only enhance food security and livelihoods in rain-dependent regions but also promote climate resilience by restoring degraded lands, sequestering carbon, and preserving native species. Through hands-on training, community mobilization, and innovative interventions, GCF’s youth leaders are demonstrating that sustainable, nature-centric farming can be both economically viable and ecologically restorative, inspiring a growing movement of conscious, empowered farmers across the region.

The Green Commandos Forum, founded by Farmer Samir Bordoloi, is a vibrant hub for experiential learning in agroforestry, natural farming, and soil management, seamlessly integrated into food forests and homestead gardens. At its heart is a 12-acre food forest in Rupnagar, Sonapur, co-created by Farmer Samir, which doubles as a living incubator for the Green Commandos-youthful eco-social agripreneurs driving sustainable transformation. These young leaders are not only embodying the principles of regenerative agriculture but are also co-creating community enterprises, demonstrating how nature-based farming can simultaneously restore ecosystems, strengthen livelihoods, and inspire a new generation of climate-conscious innovators.

SPREAD NE Food Forest: A Living Classroom of Coexistence

                                    

At the heart of Samir Bordoloi’s ecological vision stands the SPREAD NE Food Forest & Farm Learning Centre in Rupnagar, Sonapur, Assam-a pioneering model of coexistence-based farming and climate resilience. Spread across 15 acres, this living forest is not merely a farm but a thriving ecosystem where native trees, wild edibles, herbs, fruits, and traditional crops grow together in multistoried harmony. Developed with Samir’s innovative ideas of compassionate natural farming, the Centre reflects his philosophy that agriculture must be rooted in interdependence, not dominance.

The SPREAD NE Food Forest is designed to mirror the natural forest ecosystem, where birds, insects, animals, microbes, and humans all play critical roles in nurturing and regenerating life. It is a living laboratory and sanctuary, where farming becomes an act of coexistence, learning, and renewal. In the SPREAD NE Food Forest, he trains Green Commandos, a growing network of over 4,800 rural youth who are being shaped into eco-social agripreneurs equipped to co-create climate-smart communities and sustainable livelihoods across the Eastern Himalayas.

The Centre also serves as a vibrant hub for agro-experiential tourism and activity-based rural education, where schoolchildren, youth, and farmers participate in immersive learning. Through hands-on exposure to natural farming techniques like bamboo biochar making, zero-external-input homestead farming, and food forest creation, young minds begin to rediscover farming as a noble, joyous, and regenerative act. With every tree planted and every Green Commando empowered, the SPREAD NE Food Forest continues to grow not just as a farm, but as a movement, nurturing a generation dedicated to healing the earth through compassionate farming.

The Rise of Green Commandos Forum: Youth as Soil Soldiers

To scale impact, Samir launched the Green Commandos Forum (GCF), a dynamic youth-led movement that trains rural and semi-urban youth as eco-social Agripreneurs. These commandos learn hands-on skills in farming, climate adaptation, indigenous knowledge systems, entrepreneurship, and community facilitation.

                                      

Today, the network has 4,800 trained Green Commandos across Northeast India, actively co-creating community-based enterprises, restoring degraded lands, and reviving local food systems. They are turning ‘slash and burn’ areas into sacred groves and food forests, reimagining farming as a tool for healing land, climate, and livelihoods.

Umswai Valley Afforestation: A Youth-Led Movement for Sustainable Development

The Umswai Valley Afforestation Project, a collaborative initiative between SPREAD NE and GHE, exemplifies community-driven environmental conservation through innovative agroforestry and sustainable land management practices. The project has successfully engaged local communities to plant 30,000 indigenous homestead saplings as part of Homestead Food Forests (HFF) and fill gaps in the Community Sacred Forest (CSF) across four villages. By integrating native trees into sacred forests and encouraging permaculture on slash-and-burn (jhoom) lands, the initiative promotes biodiversity, ecological restoration, and climate resilience while simultaneously empowering rural youth and farmers.

At the core of this movement is the establishment of the Green Commandos Forum, a formal platform with over 3,800 trained youth volunteers, or Green Commandos, acting as custodians of planted trees and champions of sustainable practices. These eco-social agripreneurs receive training in afforestation, soil conservation, and agroforestry, enabling them to nurture permanent food forests while preventing forest fires and promoting community-based forest management.

Nature’s Devotees: The Tiwa Community

The Tiwa community’s spiritual connection with nature forms a unique backbone for conservation in Umswai Valley. Their sacred forest, regarded as the abode of Balakhongor, is central to their cultural and ecological worldview. By respecting animistic traditions and integrating them with modern environmental practices, the Tiwa people safeguard endangered flora and fauna while fostering a strong sense of communal responsibility. Leaders like Phulchand Kohlar, revered as Hadari, leverage spiritual influence to promote biodiversity conservation, blending faith with actionable environmental stewardship.

Community Leadership and Vriksha Mitras

Local youth leaders, known as Vriksha Mitras, play a pivotal role in translating conservation goals into tangible action. For instance, Limshing Puma from Amsai Pinung has mobilized six villages-Amsai Pinung, Amkhalam, Sikdamakha, Bormarjong, Moroh, and Amsai Pisa—towards environmental protection, sustainable land use, and collective ownership of resources. As a central committee member of the Green Commandos Forum, Limshing ensures continuity and local engagement in afforestation initiatives.

Sapling Distribution and Agroforestry Development

Between September 2024 and July 2025, the project distributed tens of thousands of indigenous saplings across villages: 5,000 in Amsai Pinung, 3,500 in Amkhalam, 5,000 in Bormarjong, 6,640 in Pundurimakha and Sikdamakha, and 3,760 in Amsai Pisa and Moroh. These plantings focus on both community sacred forests and homestead gardens, promoting ownership, nutrition security, and livelihood enhancement. The second phase of sapling distribution was complemented by agro-tourism initiatives that facilitated knowledge exchange with farmers from Meghalaya and other regions, fostering inter-community learning and collaboration.

Community Engagement and Women’s Entrepreneurship

The movement actively empowers women to participate in environmental conservation and income generation. In Amsai Pinung, women are establishing community nurseries to supply future plantation projects while generating revenue. This approach highlights how afforestation can be linked to sustainable livelihoods and economic empowerment.

Educational and Experiential Learning

The initiative has also collaborated with academic institutions to strengthen community capacity. Interns from XIM University, Orissa, developed detailed project reports for bamboo skill labs and sustainable tourism around the Balakhongor megaliths. Similarly, MSW students from Bosco Institute, Jorhat, engaged with Bormarjong villagers to understand local traditions and identify opportunities for sustainable development. Visits to the SPREAD NE Food Forest during World Soil Day further reinforced youth engagement and environmental stewardship.

 

GCFSALT and Food Forest Models

The project has implemented tailored permaculture approaches through the GCFSALT-Food Forest Model, creating thriving food forests on jhoom slopes and homestead lands. Green Commandos are trained to develop multistoried, native tree-based systems integrating fruits, vegetables, and agroforestry trees. These models not only provide nutrition and income but also serve as living classrooms for agro-educational tourism, fostering a people-led movement for sustainable agriculture.

                              

 

The Homestead Food Forest Model:

Farmer Samir Bordoloi have ideated a very unique model of Agroforestry Integrated Farming System in the baris (homesteads) which is called the Homestead Food Forest. This is a unique mult-storied cropping pattern just adjacent to the farmer’s household. The Green Commandos get trained in this model and co-create those Homestead Food Forests in their communities. A new revolution is taking place in the Umswai Valley where more than 500 Homestead Food Forests are being developed. This is also the Village school for adopting Agroforestry Integrated Farming system run by the Green Commandos. The Forum facilitates Agro-educational tourism to facilitate farmer to farmer learning process led by the Green Commandos-the youths.

                            

Overcoming Challenges

The project has navigated challenges such as dry-season planting and grazing pressures from livestock, learning to adapt through community engagement, awareness campaigns, and innovative solutions. Unique cultural practices, such as the Sogra festival’s “community penalty” for negligent water management, reinforce local accountability while promoting sustainable practices.

An Innovator in Rural Education and Extension

One of Samir’s most unique contributions is reviving farming as a form of education. Through farm-based curriculum in rural schools, he makes agriculture a playful, experiential, and empowering subject. His Institute of Sustainable Agriculture & Rural Development (ISARD) in Dibrugarh offers formal training and mentoring to youth, government staff, and NGOs.

At his Integrated Natural Farming Farm School in Tinsukia, he works with school dropouts who not only complete their education through NIOS but emerge as natural farming educators. His Attracting Students to Agripreneurship Program (ASAP) has inspired hundreds of students to take pride in farming, some of whom now run their own micro-enterprises in composting and nursery production.

 Research, Publications & Policy Recognition

Samir’s innovative work is documented in his research on-ground thesis on nature-friendly farming systems, which continues to serve as a foundation for scalable extension strategies in the Northeast. His practice-led innovations like:

• Bamboo Biochar production
• Food Forest
• Homestead Food Forest (Bari Unnayan)
• Bio-intensive farming
• Agroecological crop combinations for hill agriculture
• Local biofungicide and biopesticide preparation
• Seed Bombing & other AEPs relevant to the region.
• Agroeducational & Agroexperential tourism model villages.

 
 

have been adopted by Assam State Rural Livelihood Mission (ASRLM) across 219 blocks, leading to widespread farmer adoption and replication.

He is also a State Resource Person for ASRLM, offering training-of-trainer programs, scaling his models to institutional levels.

His academic and policy influence is further seen in his publication on Agrotourism featured in a book published by the Centre for Integrated Rural Development for Asia and the Pacific (CIRDAP), where he details community-based tourism models that promote slow village living, seed sovereignty, and eco-cultural pride and defining by practice agro tourism into two parts-agro educational tourism & agro experential tourism.

The Green Commandos Forum model of Farmer Samir Bordoloi also featured as a chapter in a Michigan State University publication on Agricultural Extension.

The Cone-pit method & double-pit method of making bamboo bio char developed by Farmer Samir Bordoloi has been adopted under the Organic Farming Mission of ASRLM and has been successfully practiced by more than 1 lakh women farmers. The same methods with his bamboo made bio-intensive raised beds has been adopted under the SuATI project beneficieries of GIZ and State department of Agriculture. The  Department of Agriculture, Govt. of Assam successfully adopted the Bari-Unnayan model under GIZ SuATI project in three districts of Assam and now expanding to 12 more districts under National Mission on Natural Farming (NMNF).

The GreenAg project of FAO has adopted these methods in the forest fringe villages of Mizoram. 

Legacy in Motion: A Single Man Army Becomes a Forest

What started as one man's mission to “become a plant doctor” has now grown into a forest of movements in knowledge, action, and impact. Farmer Samir Bordoloi is more than a name, it is a brand of hope, resilience, and scientific humility.

Through the Green Commandos, he has proved that young hands can rebuild degraded ecosystems. Through his methods, he has shown that local wisdom + agroecology = scalable sustainability. And through his partnerships and publications, he has built a bridge between rural realities and global solutions.

In an era of climate crisis, Farmer Samir Bordoloi and his Green Commandos offer a living, thriving alternative, where farming is not just survival, but a joyful, dignified act of coexistence with nature.

Conclusion

The Farmer Samir Bordoloi & The Green Commandos Forum way of climate-smart life illustrates how youth-led, community-driven initiatives can transform ecological, cultural, and socio-economic landscapes. By blending traditional knowledge, spiritual values, and modern sustainable practices, the project empowers Green Commandos and local communities to co-create resilient food forests, conserve biodiversity, and foster sustainable livelihoods. This initiative stands as a replicable model of environmental stewardship and inclusive rural development for other regions in North East India and beyond.