India has been meeting its growing demand for wood products such as plywood, sawnwood and pulp and paper through imports as domestic industries are inadequate to meet the growth in demand but the dependence on imports is of concern. According to the National Research Centre for Agro forestry (NCRA), the country imported six million cubic metres of timber last year.
NCRA data suggests India has 23,220 saw mills, 2,562 large and small plywood mills, 660 pulp and paper mills but says most are operating at only 40 per cent of their capacity.
The NCRA says the main reason for the inadequate supply of raw materials is that a high proportion of logs come from farmers and land owners which, under the present regulations, have little incentive to produce wood raw materials.
In an effort to boost agro-forestry output a National Agroforestry Policy (2014) has been drafted which, say analysts, has the potential to revive the agro-forestry sector.
Currently small farmers avoid agro-forestry production because of unfavourable regulations on felling and transporting of farm grown trees in the Indian Forest Act. The Act restricts felling and transportation of trees grown even on private farmland, especially of those species which are found in the nearby forests, a measure aimed at reducing illegal felling.
In addition, unlike the agriculture sector, the agro-forestry sector lacks an institutional insurance facility. The new policy addresses this and for the first time promises risk coverage to farmers practicing agro forestry against theft and natural calamit ies such as cyclone, storm, floods and drought.
The policy calls for farmers to be provided with soft loans. Government estimates suggest that the policy will help increase the area under agro forestry from 25.32 million hectares to 53 million ha India‘s imports of wood and wood products continue to grow with firm demand from manufacturers
Source:- ihb.de
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