Ten more villages in Tuticorin have been adopted under Tamil Nadu Biodiversity and Greening Project to plant long rotation trees with economic value during this financial year. The forest department will provide tree saplings mostly for long rotation (hardwood) tree species like Teak, kumizh (beechwood or white teak), Vembu (neem), Eetti (rosewood), Poovarasu (Indian tulip), Pala (jack-fruit) and Kodukkapuli (Madras Thorn) and Perumaram (Indian Tree of Heaven), a softwood tree.
According to state forest department, they are planning to plant 50,000 tree saplings this year and farmers raising these trees in their lands will be given a bonus based on the survival rate of saplings after two years. As part of Tamil Nadu biodiversity and greening project, the ten villages which have been selected are Nazareth, Mookuperi, Angamangalam, Thenthiruperai, Mavadipannai, Kembalapath, South Kayalpattinam, Nalumavadi, Padukkapathu, and Manapad.
Forest officials at forest extension division, Tuticorin said that the project has been implemented since 2012 - 2013. Till now they have covered 630 farmers in 67 villages mostly in rain-fed regions like Tiruchendur and Sathankulam taluks giving away 3 lakh long rotation (hardwood) trees and 3 lakh short rotation (softwood) tree species. The soft tree species could be harvested after 7 years while it takes 20 years on long rotation trees to be harvested for wood. “There are 30 forest extension divisions under three zonal offices at Madurai, Chennai, and Salem implementing this project across Tamil Nadu,” said the forest official at Tuticorin.