Lay down the law

For farm forestry to grow, regulatory changes are the need of the hour, as this will not only benefit farmers but also help India meet its targets in the Paris climate pact

Regulatory changes are the need of the hour if farm forestry has to grow

THE NATIONAL Forest Policy, 1988, brought in a strategic policy change by shifting the focus of forest management—from a “source of revenue” to “forest conservation and enhancement”. This shift led to lower wood supply from forests and encouraged growing trees outside forest areas to meet the rising demand for wood. The massive afforestation drives launched since then have led to a gradual increase in trees outside notified forest areas. The industry has also adapted to these policy changes by establishing a partnership with farmers through farm forestry and is now growing trees for fuelwood, fodder, timber and industrial wood.

To make farm forestry an economically viable proposition, the industry has invested huge resources for the genet-

ic improvement and clonal development of tree species suitable for various purposes. Massive efforts are underway to develop and extend a “package of practices” suitable for growing productive plantations under different agro-ecological regions.

Once the clonal species were planted on the fields, farmers began to realise its economic benefits—there was a 400 per cent increase in productivity as compared to seed-based plantations. This development brought an exponential growth in farm forestry plantations, especially in Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. Success of farm forestry plantations has contributed immensely to the increase in trees outside forests (ToF), and according to the State of Forest Report published by the Forest Survey of India, tree cover of over 11,100 km2 was added between 2001 and 2015.

Changing the landscape

The impact of such afforestation drives has become visible. In 1990, almost 90 per cent of wood requirement of pulp mills in the country were being met by forests, which has come came down to just 13 per cent in 2013. As per the Food and Agriculture Organization (fao) report 2014, plantations under ToF category are one of the most productive wood resources, meeting almost 93 per cent of the industrial wood requirement.

The growth of farm forestry has changed the way raw materials are now sourced by the industry. These changes have been so huge, in terms of transparency, options of sourcing, market-driven mechanisms, as well as supply chains, that today the industry cannot even recognise how it was sourcing raw materials in the 1990s.

Evaluation studies on the productivity of tree crops grown under farm forestry in Andhra Pradesh reveal that they have been extremely successful and become viable. The success is due to four aspects: regulatory changes enacted by state governments that relaxed felling and transit restrictions; the availability of suitable landholdings and quality of land; industrial demand of wood; and, high enterprise level of farmers.

On the basis of annual profitability, tree crops faired extremely well when compared to almost 60-70 per cent of agriculture crops grown by farmers. Similar findings have been reported in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and Karnataka. The major driving factor for the competitive viability of these tree crops under farm forestry has been the higher level of farm gate price realised by the farmers. Farm gate price is defined as the price per metric tonne realised by farmers.

The growth of farm forestry plantations has also been studied in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha that indicates that regulatory provisions for felling and transit permissions have hampered growth. Though transit pass requirement have been relaxed in these states for species such as eucalyptus lately, other restrictions, including requirement of felling permissions or the inability to ease it fully at the field level have deprived farmers from realising the appropriate farm gate price. This is likely to adversely impact the economic viability and the growth of farm forestry plantations in the future.

There is another limiting factor created by a protective regulatory regime, as is in the case of Tamil Nadu. Transport of debarked farm forestry based eucalyptus wood is not permitted outside the state. Apparently, the rules are aimed to protect the pulpwood industries operating in the state. On the contrary, these regulations have gone against the interest of the farmers, as they could not realise the competitive and market-driven farm gate price. The average farm gate price for eucalyptus in Tamil Nadu has always been about 20-25 per cent lower than in the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Not just farmers, the industry has been compelled to bring pulpwood from Puducherry and Karnataka by paying a much higher transportation cost.

Foresters have often raised reservations regarding easing regulations for bamboo and other tree species grown under farm forestry, that are also found in forests. They say this may lead to illegal extraction of trees. The report of the Bansal Committee, appointed by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, in 2012 also raised this concern. However, it recommends full exemption for eucalyptus, poplar and certain other species that are generally not found in natural forests. For other species, which are occasionally found in forests, it presents different models of benign regulatory mechanisms controlled by village institutions as well as through management plan systems to be approved by the divisional forest officer. However, a contrary view has emerged: the potential impact of regulation is not dependent on its benigness or otherwise, but by its mere presence, which does not allow market mechanisms to function and worse, allows potential brokers to flourish adding to transaction costs.

The potential of farm forestry plantations for direct sequestration of carbon in trees cannot be understated. They can make a significant contribution towards meeting the targets India has committed under the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (indcs) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Therefore, forest policies in the future must consider the reasons for the limited success of farm forestry in certain states during past two decades, despite favourable attributes. Easing out felling and transit restrictions for farm forestry tree species and establishing enabling mechanisms for the seamless supply and movement of wood to benefit farmers is necessary. Opportunity for market-driven farm-gate price is vital. Innovative arrangements such as leasing or community pooling of land with mechanisation can scale-up production. Such measures would not only enhance the overall availability of biomass for livelihoods sustainance in rural India, but also bring in carbon sequestration benefits to achieve indcs.

Benign regulations, even by their mere presence, have not allowed mechanisms like farm gate price for farmers to function. Worse, they have allowed potential brokers to flourish, adding to the transaction costs