National
Growing interest in private forestry
A growing number of people in Kapilvastu are getting into private forestry to make income.Manoj Paudel
A growing number of people in Kapilvastu are getting into private forestry to make income.
There are around 50 private forests in the district.
District Forest Office said what started with 20 individuals planting trees on their
private properties last year has turned into an occupation followed by more than 1,000 people.
Assistant Forest Officer Mohan Mishra said there is a high demand of tree saplings.
People are interested in planting Masala, Simal, Arjun, Jamun, Neem, Bakaino and Tik plants, he said.
Mahendra Sharan Singh of Dohani has planted Simal and Masala trees on his land.
‘These plants grow fast and they generate more income,” he said. According to the DFO, there are 118 community forests in the district.
District Forest Officer Rakesh Karna said people have been attracted towards planting trees on their private land due to difficulties in collecting timbers from state-owned forests.
“Private forestry will also contribute in forest conservation as well as economic prosperity,” said Karna.
The DFO also distributed around 800 plants of Sal trees in the southern part of the district. Currently, the record of the DFO showed that 13, 967 saplings have been planted per hectare of land. Few years ago, the number of saplings in per hectare of land was below 10, 000.