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Haryana targets 10 p.c. green cover

Special Correspondent

Haryana farmers opting for agro-forestry as an income generating system: Minister

CHANDIGARH: The Haryana Government plans to bring 10 per cent of its geographical area under forest and tree cover by 2010 and ultimately 20 per cent in a phased manner, the Haryana Minister of State for Forests, Kiran Choudhary, said on Wednesday. She was speaking at the Conference of State Forest Ministers in New Delhi.

According to an official release here, she said that agro-forestry was the only way through which the area under green cover could be increased. Haryana farmers had also adopted agro-forestry as an income generating system and it had become an inseparable part of their agriculture land.

She said that it was the right time that an agro-forestry Centre was set up in the country for research on various aspects of the land use system.

She said that Yamunanagar had virtually become the centre of plywood and veneer industry. The average productivity of plantations in wastelands and forests was around four to five cubic metres per hectare every year whereas agro-forestry plantations in irrigated land ensured a productivity of 10 to 15 cubic metres per hectare at a relatively low input cost.

There was an urgent need to work on issues related to marketing and government policies of export and import of wood. Mrs. Choudhary said that the State Government was giving thrust to cultivation of medicinal plants especially in the Shivalik and Aravalli hills, which were rich in flora of such plants. Cultivation of medicinal plants outside forests had a great scope for bringing about economic development of the State and its farming community.

Villagers would be encouraged to take up the cultivation of such plants using participatory approach and marketing support. A State Medicinal Plants Board had been constituted in Haryana to promote the cultivation of such plants with Forest Department as the nodal department. She added that under Joint Forest Management Programme, 1,200 village level forest committees had been constituted for participation of people in protecting forests who were given rights over water and forest produce in return.

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Haryana targets 10 p.c. green cover

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