INDIAN FOREST PRODUCTIVITY
In forestry literature, the term “forest productivity” is frequently used. However, various persons may interpret this phrase differently. There are two possible interpretations: cumulative growth and net yearly increase in forest volume.
Primary productivity refers to the pace at which energy is stored in producer organisms, primarily green plants, through photosynthetic and chemosynthetic activities. In contrast, secondary productivity refers to the rate at which the carbon stored by primary producers is ingested by animals or decomposers. Gross Primary Productivity (GPP) is defined as the total rate of photosynthesis inclusive of the organic matter used up in respiration during the measurement period, while net primary productivity (NPP) is defined as the rate of storage of the organic matter in plant tissues in excess of the plants’ respiratory utilisation during the measurement period.
Forest productivity is used to estimate existing and future wood supply, plan bio-economy and sustainable forest management and evaluate current and future forest inventories. This notion of cumulative growth will be applied in the current investigation. For carbonrelated studies, this definition of forest productivity is mainly concerned with carbon storage.
In India, the gap between the use and production of wood and wood-based goods is widening. However, because it is a largely unregulated industry, it is impossible to assess the size of this gap due to a lack of reliable statistics on the use of timber and wood products. Even though natural forests cover 21.34 % of the country’s total land area, they play a minor part in supplying this expanding need. According to the Forest Survey of India’s State of Forest Report 2011 (the most recent estimate available), it contributes just 6.4 % of demand, or roughly 3.17 million cubic metres (cum).
The building, furniture, wood panels, and paper industries mostly employ timber and pulpwood. While furniture demand has been rising at 12 to 15% per year, paper consumption has been consistently increasing at around 8% per year. In fact, India is often regarded as the world’s fastest-growing paper market. Experts estimate that the yearly demand for wood-based panel goods such as plywood, particleboard, and fibreboard is 8 million cubic metres, compared to 3.4 million cubic metres of output. However, because the Indian wood-based goods business is generally unorganised and unregulated, calculating consumption estimates is challenging.
The Forest Survey of India estimates that the yearly use of wood in three sectors — house building, furniture, and agricultural implements — is 33.61 million cum, with a Round Wood Equivalent (RWE) of 48 million cum, in its State of Forest Report 2011. Following that, two biannual reports were released, but neither of them mentioned wood consumption. According to researches, India consumed 50.1 million cubic metres of industrial round wood, 23.2 million tonnes of paper, paperboard, and other fibre, and 11.16 million cubic metres of sawn timber and panel wood in 2014.
It is past time for the country’s wood supply challenges to be recognised, and immediate action be taken to meet escalating wood demand. The agroforestry industry has to be boosted. This will necessitate some solid planning on the most efficient and long-term use of land resources. More wood markets close to agroforestry districts are needed. By eliminating obsolete taxation systems and wood transportation laws and creating an efficient Minimum Support Price regime, forestry policies must be farmer-friendly to enable them to produce hassle-free wood. To break the monopoly of private participants in the wood markets, more government-owned wood-processing facilities are needed.
Furthermore, the government must recognise that there are ample areas available for the production of wood. According to the land usage estimates, there are 12.6 million hectares of cultivable wasteland and 24.58 million hectares of fallow land that might boost productivity in the agroforestry and farm-forestry sectors. Aside from India’s agroforestry systems, a thorough examination of the FDC model is necessary. The productivity of FDCS-managed forestland must increase to become significant players in the country’s wood market.
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