Eucalypts in industrial and social plantations in Karnataka
- Karnataka Forest Dept., Bangalore (India)
Eucalyptus species were introduced in Karnataka as far back as 1790. Sporadic plantings were done during the early twentieth century, but larger plantations were raised from the 1930s, mainly for firewood and charcoal production. With increasing use of hardwoods in pulp and paper manufacture, and under the impetus of the National Forest Policy, 1952, and the report of the National Commission on Agriculture (NCA), 1976, large scale cultivation of eucalypts was taken up during the 1960s and through to the 1980s. The Karnataka Forest Plantation Corporation was set up in 1971 mainly to raise pulpwood; the Mysore Paper Mills established captive plantations to provide for its expanding capacity; Harihar Polyfibres Ltd. entered through the joint sector Karnataka Pulpwoods Ltd. Eucalypts also became very popular in farm forestry, owing to attractive returns and as insurance against drought. Criticism on ecological grounds limited Forest Department plantings to the lower rainfall zones, will adverse social implications gave rise to much controversy on the use of non-cultivated revenue and forest land nearer villages for industrial plantations. The 1988 Forest Policy has recommended that industry should generate its raw material by entering into agreements with farmers, thereby leaving a question mark over the role of eucalypts in government forestry.
- OSTI ID:
- 140024
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9102202--; ISBN 0-471-93561-1
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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