A booster dose needed in agroforestry

RK Sapra

Haryana is predominantly an agrarian economy, where more than 80 per cent of the land area is cultivated. This state was deficient in natural forests at the time of its separation from Punjab. The Haryana Forest Department (HFD) took up the challenge of afforesting it head-on and assisted farmers by planting farmlands free of cost during the early ’70s to promote agro-forestry.

During the ’80s and ’90s , the HFD implemented externally aided projects to raise plantations mainly on farmlands and panchayat lands. HFD, Forest Research Institute, Dehradun, and WIMCO undertook intensive extension activities for popularising the high yielding varieties of poplar and eucalyptus, which reduced their harvesting period and improved their profitability. This development led to large-scale farming of tree crops, which increased the forest and tree cover (FTC) to 6.6 per cent of geographical area of the state. The forest area of the state is 3.6 per cent of its geographical area and the remaining about 3 per cent area is under agro-forestry in farmlands.

Development of wood-based industries

In Haryana, there have been no restrictions on cutting of trees except in the Shiwalik and Aravalli regions, but the cutting trees including eucalyptus, poplar and ailanthus among others were exempted in these regions too to encourage agro-forestry. As the state does not have Timber Transit Rules, the timber not only from within the state, but also from the states of Punjab, UP, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and J&K is transported to Yamunanagar market, which provides higher rates of farm-grown wood as compared to other markets. Hence, the absence of timber transit regulations has encouraged tree farming and establishment of wood-based industries in the state.

Yamunanagar city has emerged as the biggest market of farm-grown wood in the country as about 35-40 lakh tonnes of timber worth about Rs1,500 -1,800 crore is being traded annually, of which about Rs750-900 crore is going back to farmers. The easy and sustained availability of large quantities of timber in this city has played a major role in shifting wood-based units from north-eastern region, which were closed down on the directions of the Supreme Court in 1996 and have resulted in the regulation of wood-based industries in the entire country in 2002. The Central Empowered Committee appointed by the SC has estimated timber production as 22 lakh cum in Haryana for licensing of wood-based units. Yamunanagar city now has heavy concentration of wood-based units, which manufacture wood products worth Rs5,000-6,000 crore annually and provide direct and indirect employment to about 1 lakh people. Surprisingly, Yamunanagar district alone produces about 45 per cent plywood of the country, which has helped this city in earning the reputation of being called as the ‘plywood capital of the country’.

Constraints in development

The main product of tree crops being timber, which is the raw material of wood-based industries, the cyclic fluctuations in the rate of timber are common due to the gaps between the demand and supply. The poplar timber was being sold at Rs11,000 per tonne in 2012, but its prices started declining in 2013 and touched Rs4,000 per tonne in 2015. After issue of licenses to wood-based units in 2017, the rates of poplar timber have started to increase and have reached to about Rs9,000 per tonne. Due to these uncertainties, farmers not only resorted to premature harvesting and distress sale of poplar trees, but also virtually stopped planting poplars. Hence, agro-forestry evolved in Haryana based on the movement of market forces, whose positive and negative impacts were felt by farmers, nursery growers and landless labourers among others.

The prices of timber will stabilise only when there is sustained growth of wood-based industries, which is possible only when the real estate sector grows. At present, the real estate sector is passing through a downward phase. Hence, the Centre should revive the dynamism of this sector through various policy measures. With the revival of this sector, the demand for panel woods will increase resulting in generation of higher income for farmers and growth of wood-based units, which mainly employs landless and school dropouts as labourers. Hence, the adverse impact of cyclic fluctuations in prices of timber can be minimised through pro-active policy measures by the Central and state governments.

Recommendations of expert committee

Government of India in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) with a view to increase the contribution of trees outside forests in meeting the goal of 33 per cent of FTC, achieving the target of additional CO2 sink, improving farmer’s income and reducing the trade deficit in timber, constituted an expert committee to recommend a strategy to increase green cover outside the forest areas. The MoEFCC has already accepted the report and recommended its implementation to the Ministry of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmer’s Welfare (MoACFW) which is the nodal ministry for agro-forestry sector. The Haryana Government may implement the relevant recommendations of the committee and approach the MoACFW for getting the implementation of the rest of the recommendations, which pertain to different ministries of Government of India. In the first phase of agro-forestry development, HFD has played a pivotal role in its success, but the success of its second phase of development basically depends on better state and district level co-ordination between forest and agriculture departments. Both departments should work hand in hand for the welfare of farmers. It is also suggested that a high-powered committee under the Chief Minister may be constituted for sorting out various issues pertaining to agro-forestry sector, which will help the state in maintaining its leadership in this sector. The main recommendations of the committee are:

• Existing legal provisions for certified planting materials for horticultural crops, may be developed and enforced for tree crops
• A system of third party based certified nurseries for tree crops needs to be put in place
• Planting of trees under agro-forestry may be provided medium term credit within priority sector lending norms with the provisions of interest subvention
• Tree crops may be covered under agricultural insurance scheme and be eligible for input subsidy in case of disasters
• Timber markets may be established
• Networking of wood trading centres may be established to provide transparent real-time picture of market prices of timber
• The import of pulpwood, etc., which may be produced by farmers, may be regulated
• There is a need to control illegal timber trade menace in the country to ensure fair price of timber to farmers
• Third party forest certification should be made mandatory for import of logs and finished products to ensure legality and traceability of products
• Wood-based industries need to be treated on a par with the food-processing industry
• Creating green skilled youth to work as an interface between industries and farmers for harvesting, storage, marketing and transportation of wood

Yamunanagar city biggest market of farm-grown wood in country

• Yamunanagar city has emerged as the biggest market of farm-grown wood in the country
• About 35-40 lakh tonnes of timber worth about Rs1,500 -1,800 crore is being traded annually, of which about Rs750-900 cr is going back to farmers
• Yamunanagar city now has heavy concentration of wood-based units, which manufacture wood products worth Rs5,000-6,000 crore annually and provide direct and indirect employment to about 1 lakh people
• The district alone produces about 45% plywood of the country, which has helped it in earning the reputation of being called ‘ country’s plywood capital’

(Writer is retired IFS and member, State Environment Impact Assessment Authority)