New Delhi Hit by an acute shortage of land for growing eucalyptus, the paper industry is now banking on agro-forestry to meet the rising demand of wood pulp. Started by paper major ITC, more than 1,500 acres of land is covered under the agro-forestry plan in areas such as Khammam, west Godavari, Prakasam and Nizamabad districts of Andhra Pradesh.

In these areas, eucalyptus is planted on the same land where other agricultural crops such as cotton, chili, sunflower, maize and tobacco are grown.

Itanagar: The National Bamboo Mission (NBM) has assured to provide fund to the Arunachal Pradesh Bamboo Resource and Development Agency (APBRDA) to boost the bamboo plantation of the State.

NBM deputy director general Kameshwar Ojha made this assurance when APBRDA vice chairman Yora Tagung called on him at New Delhi yesterday, official sources said here today.

Gram sabha’s total control over forest produce makes ultras unhappy, reveal reports

Amid reports that Maoists are against according bamboo rights to Adivasis in Gadchiroli, Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh has asked the Chief Ministers of six Naxal-hit States to emulate the success of Mendha Lekha village in that Maharashtra district.

Mendha Lekha became the first village with Community Forest Rights (CFR) to be given transit passbooks to harvest and sell bamboo in April 2011. Since then other villages in Gadchiroli have applied for and got transit passbooks. Mendha Lekha collected Rs. 93.31 lakh in bamboo sales and has been putting the funds into community development.

Say It Is Not A ‘Grass’ But A ‘Tree’, Can’t Be Harvested.

A special commission will soon be set up to fix the minimum support price (MSP) for forest produces used by tribals to earn their livelihoods, the Government said here on Monday.