Constraints faced by tree growers:

Dear friends,

I have been asked to prepare a list of constraints faced by tree growers in India by a Chief Conservator of Forests, Department of Forests, Tamilnadu. He would have thought that obtaining this kind of information directly from a tree grower will be realistic and an eye opener to the higher echelons in his department and the Government. But what he received from myself must have left him embarrassed, no doubt.  

When I started to type the list, it grew to 32 hurdles to my utter disbelief and to the dismay of our respected officer. 32 hurdles will be difficult even for an Olympic hurdles runner to surmount. Truly a huge task for a tree grower.

    Constraints faced by the tree growers: 

I. Constraints from Nature (God?):

1. Vagaries of monsoon (Poor rainfall, excess rain, high temperature and  prolonged drought).
2. Pest and disease occurrence.
3. Damage to crop by cattle and wild animals (especially wild boar).
4. Damage to crop by Birds (especially peacock).

II. Constraints from Govt.:

5. Poor assistance from Govt. for land development.
6. Poor assistance for Soil reclamation.
7. Poor assistance for water reclamation.
8. Poor assistance to establish ‘Farm ponds’ and ‘Percolation ponds’.
9. Poor assistance to put up solar fencing.
10. Nil assistance to fence our farm land (other then solar).
11. Nil assistance to avail drip irrigation facility for tree cropping.

III.  Constraints in schemes of Dept. of Forests:

12. Non availability of preferred species.
13. Non - availability of good seedlings.
14. Non – availability of seedlings at the preferred time.
15. Provision to supply plants of various types with different maturity periods (short, medium and long duration varieties) is not adhered to.
16. Maximum ceiling level for the supply of seedlings is not adhered to.
17. Quality of seedlings from Forest nursery.
18. Transport of Seedlings from nursery. Cost / Damage / Other hurdles.
19. Replacement for plant mortality (for gap filling) is inadequate.
20. Inadequate training and lack of sound and easy to adopt technical guidance.
21. Market promotion and publicity materials are quite inadequate.
22. Delay in inspection and issuing of cutting / transport permit.
23. Non-Establishment of Agro-forestry model plots.
24. Incentives:
    a)      Inadequate provisions.
    b)      Duration of period (Max. No. of years) to avail incentive 
    c)      Delayed payment of Incentives.
    d)      Method of Incentive payment. 

IV. Infrastructure Constraints:

25. Inadequate credit facility from Banks/Govt. institutions/NGO and others.
26. No provision for Crop Insurance.
27. Lack of awareness and knowledge about growing trees.
28. Lack of organized groups like  SHG, NGO, and other forums to support.
29. Quality of seedlings from private nursery.
30. Non - availability / timely availability of quality organic manures.
31. Labour shortage.
32. High labour wages.

Of course, I might have left some 'constraints' by oversight here. I kindly request our readers to point out the omissions in the above list to draw a complete (pathetic) picture. 

Comment for the future of farming is your 

comment for the future of mankind.

Regards,

A.Vishnu Sankar.

President, 

Tirunelveli District Tree Growers Association.

Tamilnadu.