Coimbatore Forest Division Has Planted Around 14 Lakh in the Pants In The Last Nine Years
Update: 2022-09-09 11:33 IST
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Coimbatore Forest Division (Extension) personnel have planted 14.33 lakh saplings between 2012 and 2021 as part of the Tamil Nadu Biodiversity and Conservation Greening Project and Tree Cultivation on Private Lands (TCPL).
To help farmers in the districts of Coimbatore, Tiruppur, and Nilgiris better their standard of living, officials donated saplings of 24 different species, including teak, Malai Vembu, Mahagony, and Perumaram.
A forest department official explained that 95 villages in the three districts have been covered, and as of 2021, 14.33 lakh seedlings have been planted. They have planted a total of 1,26,000 short rotation saplings up to 2013–2014 and 13,07,006 long rotation saplings up to 2021 from these saplings. Farmers harvested in the previous year and are earning good returns because of the short rotation. One short-rotation cultivar, malaivembu, is harvested in six to seven years.
He further added that a farmer receives between Rs 4,000 and 5,000 for harvesting one tonne of malaivembu, which is used to make furniture and paper. Directly from farmers to manufacturers of paper and furniture come the gathered trees. In the near future, they intend to grow more saplings in the three nurseries in Coimbatore and distribute them in the project's second phase.
Farmer K Devarajan from Avinashi told that six months ago, he collected 10 tonnes of Perumaram and shipped them to Chennai at a cost of Rs 6,000 per tonne. But presently, this is only worth Rs. 4,000 to 4,500.