Money spinning trees

Dear Friends,

"Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed". 

The super-exploitation of the present day farmers by a handful of business people has become possible due to the fo(a)rmers' insatiable greed for money. 

Every year we have been witnessing the aggressive promotion of one tree species or other by some magazines and companies and we never bothered to verify the facts. 

In the last few years alone, the list of plants that adorned the "Hall of Fame"for a short period of time and fell flat after benefiting a select few business crooks are Vanilla, Jatropha, Teak, Mangium, Paradise tree, Red sanders, Pathimugam (Sappan wood) Etc. Etc. and the list is endless. The species in the limelight now is 'Agar' (Aquilaria species) and its fall in near future is a foregone conclusion.

In recent years, farmers are finding fault with FC&RI (Forest College and Research Institute, Mettupalayam, Coimbatore) for not providing authentic information about the cultivation technology of some trees other than Eucalyptus, Casuarina junghuhniana, Ailanthus (Perumaram), Melia dubia (Malai vembu), Anthocephalus cadamba (Vellai Kadambu) and Leucaena leucocephala (subapul or Soundal).

FC&RI has acceded to the demands of tree growers and embarked upon to establish small trial plots in their premises for the following tree species which they assume to occupy the attention of the farmers in the coming years.

1. Populus (Poplar) Tree.
2. Dalbergia sissoo (A straight growing Dehradun selection)
3. Chukrasia tabularis (Mathagiri vembu in Tamil)
4. Poulownia tomentosa (China Teak)
5. Salix (Willow)
6. Acacia hybrid (Mangium X Auriculiformis)
7. Toona ciliata (Santhana Vembu in Tamil)
8. Dalbergia sissoo (A Dehradun selection with straight bole)
9. Lannea coromandelica (Othiyan in Tamil)
10. Mitragyna parviflora (Neer Kadambu in Tamil)
11. Alstonia scholaris (Ezhilai palai in Tamil)
12. Anthocephalus cadamba (Vellai kadambu in Tamil)
13. Gmelina arborea (Kumil in Tamil)
14. Melia dubia (Malai vembu in Tamil)

The selected plants are fast growing in nature and FC&RI has done a good job by selecting a mixture of soft, medium hard and hard wood trees native to India which can be promoted after successful field trials.  

                                                                     Chukrasia

 Poplar

 

Poulownia

Alstonia scholaris:

 Anthocephalus cadamba:

 Gmelina arborea (Kumil)

Melia dubia (Malai vembu)

Tree cultivation should be done with affection, love, care, deep respect, awe and reverence. It is a sacred act and if your only aim is to spin money out of them, then be prepared to face some disastrous consequences like losing whatever wealth you have accumulated over the years.

Don't imagine! Be realistic!

 

Daytime robbery is going on and when will we learn the lesson?

  Please have a look at the following links:

Timber Tree selection - A Check List

Fast growing tree species for economically important commercial timber cultivation.

Regards,

A.Vishnu Sankar.