Govt to undertake communidade land for afforestation too

PANJIM, JULY 12
The State Forest Department will undertake 450 hectares of government forest and communidade land for afforestation, this monsoon.
The set target for the year 2010-11 is 450 ha, which includes 150 ha land under Compensatory Afforestation fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) scheme amounting to Rs 50-60 lakh.
“The afforestation is taken up for enriching the existing plantation in the State. The plantation will be carried out in the degraded forest areas of the state,” Deputy Conservator of Forest, Planning and Statistics, Sanjay Waradkar told Herald.
Waradkar said that of the total targeted area, 30 ha land is under communidade while the rest is government owned forest areas.
The drive that begin in June, will plant species like teak, acacias and other indigenous verities. The department expects to cover the entire 450 ha by mid July.
The official said that around 7.5 lakh saplings will be planted in various forest department run nurseries. “Last year we had raised 15.3 lakh saplings of which 7.5 lakh will be planted now. For the next year our aim is to raise 12.3 lakh saplings, which would be utilised for afforestation drive,” Waradkar explained.
The afforestation drive is jointly carried out by forest divisions like social forestry, North Goa and South Goa territorial units and by research and utilisation division.
“Social forestry department priority will be plantation of communidade land, while the research and utilisation division will plant medicinal plants over 20 ha of area,” he said.
“Plantation of medicinal plants being a gap plantation is carried out in small numbers,” he added.
It is been estimated that a cost of plantation, which will also include maintenance, amounts to Rs 30,000 per ha. Whereas department have to shell out Rs 5 behind each saplings.
Goa has a forest cover of over 1,421 sq km. of which 33 percent of area is under government forests (1224.38 sq kms) while 62 percent is brought under protected areas of wildlife sanctuaries and national parks, owned by state government.