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Extension Farmer knowledge transfer in an uncanny & eerie manner

That is a female tree atleast that's what a carving says


How do you determine that a tree in the forest is female? From what I read in the books and from googling I did in internet, I am convinced that scientifically, only the sex of herbaceous plants such as Fig (Ficus spp), willows (Salix spp) and marijuana (Cannabis spp) can be determined. Most other plants are bisexual with both male and female parts together.  The flowers are consired generally as tree genitals. I am restricted to the knowledge that buddhism believes that all that grows are living beings but not anything about XX or XY of the trees. 

Forget all this brainstorming. In the more casual and lighter part of the story, it is too easy for a cowherder of Minjay in Lhuntse to do it. With his crafty pair of hands fuelled by his sharp knife, he can easily sculpture a perfect female genital. He modify it with ‘I love it’ insignia. One time combing the Community Forest on the usual assignment of carrying out CF marking, I came across such marking on the tree. I was facinated by the ingenuity and artistics of this cowboy.

On the serious note, I could educate the marking troupe on regard to negative impacts of such practice on the health of the tree. The barks of the tree is an important part in maintaining the health of the tree.  The bark most typically serves very important functions. I could convince them that the outer, mostly dead tissues form a protective barrier between the plant axis and the abiotic and biotic environment. The inner tissue is where sugar transport for the plant occurs.

The incidence offered me an opportunity to explain the CFMGs that for all intents and purposes; tree bark is the skin of the tree citing the example of human skin. The main tree bark function is to protect the phloem layer. The phloem layer is like our own circulatory system. It brings the energy produced by the leaves to the rest of the tree. I asked them, “What happens when you cut your skin?” Similarly, it inflicts the damage to the tree and makes it vulnerable to the disease, affecting the health of the tree as well the Community Forest.

Until the incidence, they seems to have never realized negative impacts of such casual practice. After I could explain comprehensively, they nodded in agreement and promised to put an immediate stop to it. The knowledge transfer from extension to farmers sometime happen in most uncanny and eerie manner. 

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