Forest Based Industries

Introduction

Agroforestry is a potential approach to minimize unsustainable withdrawals from forests and instead promote production of fuelwood, fodder and timber in conjunction with agricultural crops on non-forests land. Highly adopted trees species have been identified for each agro ecozone to encourage high productivity and diversify the products for use. Agroforestry is to be promoted on wood catchment basis to support a large number of wood/pulp based industries. Following are the major agroforestry systems, which are economically beneficial.

Some Important Agroforestry System

The poplar based agroforestry system as proved more profitable over the most intensive cropping systems of rice-wheat in the northern region. Poplars are an excellent source of fibres for various grades of paper, fine paper, and packing papers and newsprint paper. Poplar wood is used for making match splints, plywood, sports goods, toy, pencil-making, packing cases and crate-making.

Teak is one of the most popular and highly valued timber trees. Attracted by the economic advantages of teak culture, many private companies in India had ventured into establishing commercial plantations of teak. Teak tree is graded in India as first, second, third, fourth and fifth quality as per the girth and height attained at maturity (50-60 years). The market price of timber reduces progressively from the bottom to the top end of the tree. The crown and branch wood of trees is sold at about Rs. 1,000 per m³ as fuel wood. The average price of the timber obtained for the entire tree can, therefore, be only about 20% of the highest price obtained, for the best quality of timber.

Bamboo extensively traded throughout the country a good quality bamboo of about 6-meter length and 18 cm girth sales for about Rs.30. In the northeastern states bamboo’s are abundant commercial uses of bamboo are Bamboo parquet (Block Flooring), laminated bamboo, bamboo reinforced concrete, artificially shape bamboo viz. handicrafts, decoration items and cottage industries, and medicine. Also bamboo charcoal in electric batteries. It is used in deodorizing fish oil in Asian Countries.

Sandalwood yields maximum heartwood with a good amount of sandal wood oil. The sandal wood oil is in great demand all over the world for its use in perfumery products. Sandalwood is also in demand for use in perfumery products. Sandalwood is also in demand for use in wood carvings. Sandalwood fetches a very high price, 1 kg of sandalwood fetches an astronomical price of Rs. 1000 in the market. Apart from these agroforestry system the most important multipurpose trees are viz. Populus deltoides, Acacia spp., Dalbergia spp., Morus alba, Anthocephalus cadamba, Casuarina equisetifolia, Prosopis spp., Bamboos, Grevillea robusta, Leucaena leucocephala etc.

Trees in agroforestry systems are used for making agricultural implements, furniture, bark yields gum/tannin, softwood, mats, and thatches, turpentine and for oil purpose. The tree species in agroforestry can be used for sericulture and apiculture also. Thus tree species in agroforestry systems are useful for many forest-based industries.