Agriculture and Industrial Agro-forestry
A Model for Food, Fuel and Wood Security
A diversified Indian conglomerate
ITC’s
Paperboard business and Forestry Programme
Paper Manufacturing depends upon pulpwood as raw-material
ITC’s Bhadrachalamunit, at current production capacity:
• Pulpwood requirement = 11 LT
• Area to be harvested (approx)= 24,000 Ha/annum
Challenge
Wood based industry depended on existing natural forests - forest cover in the country less than desirable
ITC’s Solutions
R&D: clonal technology for productivity improvement and commercially viable lines
Farm Forestry: Promote plantations with farmers through extension and sale of saplings
The Challenge
R&D Result: Bhadrachalam Clones
• Increased resistance to diseases
• Significant productivity gains in same land - 24 to 58 CuM (tons)/ha
• Improving Survival Rate to 90 % in harsh conditions
• Compressing Harvesting Cycle from 7 years to 4 years
Challenge
Farm-forestry is opted by big farmers with potential to invest, whereas 70% of land is with resource poor small and marginal farmers
ITC’s Solution
Social Forestry: financial & technical assistance to the resource-poor farmers with surplus wasteland and without any buy-back compulsion
Next challenge
ITC works with NGOs to …• Promote Village Plantation Committees• Train Farmers in Plantation Package of
Practices• Investment for Sapling cost
Programme becomes sustainable by…• Farmers Repaying Project Support to Village
Committees• Committees re-investing the amount for
plantation and development activities
ITC’s Solution
Agro-forestry: Promote tree based farming through agroforestry model accommodating trees and field crops
Challenge
Limitation of land-resource availability lead to a situation of competition in choosing between plantations and field crops
The Next Challenge
Spread and CoverageIn 15 years…
• 1.96 lakh ha under plantations
• 107 Million saplings planted to date of EC, Subabul and Casuarina
• 70 thousand direct beneficiaries In AP and Telangana states
• Replicate the model elsewhere to meet energy needs of farmers
• Agro-forestry plantation – 24 thousand hectares
• In the journey, there were new challenges from time to time and each
time there was a solution brought-in, which could be possible only
because there was a strong business need
• While there is a strong business need, enlightened corporates like ITC
identified the potential for Greater Shared Value creation in it and
incubated the programme with emphasis on small and marginal farmers
• Scale and Reach of such idea in private farmlands is possible only
through business linked solutions
Business and Forestry
• The programme is a clear success with small and marginal farmers and it has been proved
as better model in terms of income
• Next challenge is to see that farmer earns same income from both trees & field crops as is
earned when they are cultivated in pure block model. Which means farmer earns around
Rs. 21,051+ Rs. 22,633 from one acre of agro-forestry
• This challenge entails research in tree and crop productivity enhancement and ITC is
looking forward to work with Research bodies and Institutions for the betterment of
resource poor farmers with rainfed fields in drought prone conditions
Going Forward
Block
Plantations Agro-forestry
Only Agriculture
Total Earnings (Rs) 7,346,900 18,861,367 1,202,210
Total Area (acres) 349 715 54
Earnings per acre (Rs) 21,051 26,370 22,263