A one-year-old sandal sapling
| Photograph Credit score: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
The federal government’s Funds announcement aimed toward boosting sandalwood cultivation as a tree crop has generated optimism amongst farmers.
Officers say good demand and higher costs are key incentives for sandalwood cultivation. Finance Minister Okay.N. Balagopal, within the Funds, outlined the federal government’s intention to amend present guidelines to facilitate the expansion of sandalwood. Apart from, forest timber depots could be remodeled into sandalwood assortment centres, permitting people to reap sandalwood timber from non-public land on the market to the Forest division.
M.G. Vinod Kumar, Divisional Forest Officer, Marayur Sandal Division, highlights the potential of sandalwood timber to be labeled as a tree crop, making certain a gentle earnings and a assured marketplace for farmers. “The Vana Samrakshana Samiti beneath the Marayur Sandal Division produces sandal saplings yearly which are bought at ₹75 per sapling,” he says.
Sandalwood and associated merchandise , being an integral a part of rituals, have constant demand and its market is anticipated to develop globally. Mr. Vinod Kumar says sandal timber can thrive throughout the State, besides in wetlands. At current, the market worth for sandalwood ranges from ₹250 to ₹15,000 a kg relying on high quality.
Jeason Mathew, a farmer from Maradi, close to Muvattupuzha, says he planted about 600 sandal timber on 2.5 acres, anticipating enhanced earnings in comparison with teak. He sourced saplings from the Marayur Sandal Division and manages the plantation beneath the steering of forest officers.
A.T. Thomas, a retired forest official residing at Moolamattom, has demanded governmental help in selling sandal farming. Having planted a sandal tree in 1988, he acquired over ₹3 lakh from a single tree upon extraction in 2021. “To encourage sandal farming, the federal government ought to concern a round in forest and income workplaces referring to legal guidelines and rules. A lot of the officers are unaware of the cultivation of sandalwood and the truth is that anybody can simply domesticate the tree and earn earnings,” he says.
Forest officers says sandalwood, being a semi-rooted parasite, can profit from planting Gliricida maculata (seemakonna) alongside it. “Cultivating pepper round sandal timber can supply further earnings to farmers, as these companion crops present important minerals to the sandal timber by way of their root programs,” they are saying.
