India, the world’s fifth-largest economic system, is poised to see important will increase in demand for wooden and wood-related merchandise. Through the years, India has seen regular progress in forest and tree cowl in numerous elements of the nation (Forest Survey of India, 2021). Nonetheless, home timber manufacturing is unable to fulfill mounting market wants (Kant and Nautiyal, 2021).
India’s curiosity in transitioning in the direction of extra sustainable meals and land use programs manifests in a number of methods. The Authorities of India has dedicated to restoring 26 million hectares of degraded lands and making a carbon sink of two.5-3.0 billion tonnes of CO2e via extra forest and tree cowl by 2030 (Ministry of Surroundings, Forest and Local weather Change, 2024).
As well as, progress in farm incomes and agricultural credit score are necessary coverage objectives. These commitments towards local weather mitigation, land degradation, and farmer wellbeing current a chance to strengthen tree-based regenerative agricultural practices, significantly agroforestry.
Agroforestry refers to land administration practices that deliberately mix woody perennials, comparable to bushes, shrubs, palms, and bamboos, with agricultural crops and/or livestock (Nair, 2005). These programs foster ecological and socio-economic interactions, presenting each challenges and alternatives for industries utilizing tree-based merchandise and for the farmers rising these bushes.
To higher perceive the advanced interaction between market demand and farm provide of tree merchandise, TNC researchers analyzed wooden commerce knowledge, interviewed key market stakeholders, and performed farm family surveys.
This culminated in a nationwide workshop co-organized with CIFOR-ICRAF, which introduced collectively decision-makers from wood-based industries, farming communities, and authorities and non-government companies. The purpose of the workshop was to additional unlock the potential of India’s Nationwide Agroforestry Coverage by figuring out key methods to encourage tree planting by farmers and improve market demand for smallholder produced wooden. This notice summarizes insights that emerged from the workshop and makes suggestions based mostly on multi- stakeholder deliberations.
Key Developments and Challenges
Tree-planting by farmers has the potential to boost incomes, meet business wants and contribute to public commitments to revive lands and mitigate local weather change. Nonetheless, vital bottlenecks associated to market construction, farmer wants and authorities rules, particularly felling and transport restrictions, will have to be addressed.
1. Rising Market Demand
India is projected to see a 70% improve in demand for wooden and wood-related merchandise by 2030 based mostly on progress within the Indian economic system (Panel B, Determine 1, Kant and Nautiyal 2021). As Wooden demand comes from the development sector and related industries comparable to plywood and wood-based panels, adopted by paper and pulp and the furnishings sectors. Wooden provide whereas comparatively steady during the last decade, confirmed some progress in imports of sawn and pulpwood (Panel A, Determine 1).
Determine 2 supplies additional particulars on the wooden worth chain in India, displaying how uncooked materials (roundwood) is used to develop middleman and last wooden merchandise. Roughly 53 million cubic meters (Mm3) of roundwood serves as the essential uncooked materials for India’s wood-based industries. Some 92% of roundwood is domestically produced, with the remaining 8% being imported. This roundwood is used to develop middleman merchandise comparable to sawn wooden, veneer and wooden panels, and phrase pulp, a few of that are additionally imported.
Among the many last sectors within the wooden worth chain (Determine 2), building accounts for 45% of complete nationwide wooden use, adopted by the paper and paperboard {industry} (21%). Different industries, together with the furnishings and pallets and packaging account make up the remainder of nationwide wooden demand. Whereas the development sector dominates last wooden use, projections and {industry} specialists level to growing onerous wooden substitutes and an upward pattern in market demand for merchandise comparable to plywood, furnishings, paper and pulp, and pallets and packaging (TNC Analysis and Kant and Nautiyal, 2021). These industries will seemingly gas progress in demand for wooden within the coming years.
Whereas the majority of wooden utilized in India is domestically produced, Indian industries additionally depend on wooden imports. India is a web importer of wooden, with wooden exports valued at roughly 6% of the worth of main wooden imports in 2019 (Kant and Nautiyal 2021). A number of variations between home and worldwide traded wooden sectors seem to contribute to progress in imports. Key informant interviews with {industry} actors counsel that imported timber is prone to be extra dependable, meet desired specs and be graded as anticipated. Reliable grade-based value variation permits patrons to extra readily select wooden that matches their finances and necessities (TNC Analysis 2023, Annexure 1). In distinction, home wooden gross sales hubs (mandis) are informally managed, restricted in quantity and infrequently positioned removed from farming communities, resulting in inconsistent and unsure native provide.
2. Wooden Provide and Timber Exterior Forests
The principle supply of home manufacturing of wooden is India is Timber Exterior Forests (TOF). TOF cowl all bushes exterior recorded forest areas. Thus, bushes rising in personal lands, i.e. via agroforestry equipped bushes, fall into this class.
Determine 2 presents the distribution of various sources of wooden utilized in Indian markets. General, some 83% of home wants are met by home manufacturing and 17% via imports. TOF make up roughly 93-96% of the home wooden manufacturing, with the remaining (4-7%) coming from state forests and plantations.
As bushes usually are not an annual crop, home tree manufacturing isn’t anticipated to extend considerably within the quick time period. Thus, any hole between home provide and the rising demand recognized in Determine 1 (Panel B) will seemingly proceed to be crammed by imports. Nonetheless, given the distribution of wooden sources and anticipated progress in demand, agroforestry affords farmers an enormous alternative to realize wooden market share.
Whereas agroforestry affords a possible earnings diversification technique for famers, there are various implementation challenges. Tree manufacturing is dependent upon agroecological and local weather circumstances and wishes to answer market alerts. Farmers even have restricted entry to technical data, high quality planting materials, peer-networks and finance. Moreover, rising bushes requires dedicating land to longer-term investments with unsure returns. Thus, the risk-return ratio is excessive, even when tree harvests are profitable.
3. Regulatory Challenges
India has many insurance policies and schemes to advertise agroforestry and ToFs, together with its 2014 Nationwide Agroforestry Coverage (NAP)[1], which is at the moment into consideration for revision. Nonetheless, the rise in tree planting by farmers has been sluggish, partly due to insufficient enabling circumstances within the type of authorities extension providers, public nurseries, and a spotlight to points comparable to land and tree tenure, gender, and social inclusion (Duraisami, Singh, & Chaliha, 2022).
Sub-national rules can act as robust deterrent for personal tree planting. A number of states orchestrate assorted felling and transit rules on a number of regulated and unregulated tree species planted on personal lands. Farmers hesitate to develop bushes due to the constraints they could face on the time of harvest and transport. Producers additionally encounter bureaucratic hurdles and transaction prices when acquiring state-specific transit permits (ATREE, 2022).
Some states, together with Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Maharashtra, have sought to streamline their timber felling and transport rules according to the Nationwide Agroforestry Coverage. Moreover, in 2023, the Authorities of India launched the Nationwide Transit Go System (NTPS), a pan-India one-nation one-transit initiative to facilitate the seamless transit of timber, bamboo, and different forest produce throughout state borders. Evaluating the influence of those initiatives on wooden manufacturing and harvest will probably be key.
Moreover, whereas agroforestry is overseen by the Agriculture Ministry, different authorities companies, particularly forest departments on the state degree, have important pursuits in tree product harvesting and gross sales. Addressing this layer of complexity requires multi-sectoral approaches, which have been difficult to implement.
Suggestions
The nationwide workshop in July 2024 convened a various group of stakeholders dedicated to advancing agroforestry. Discussions concluded that scaling agroforestry requires a three-pronged method: aligning practices with rising market wants, bettering the risk-return profile of farm tree manufacturing, and creating enabling circumstances that scale back transaction prices. Implementing these methods would require lively collaboration amongst market gamers, authorities and non-government companies, researchers, and farmers.
Advice 1: Align with Market Calls for
- Promote Market-Oriented Agroforestry: Encourage farmers to plant fast-growing bushes in agro-ecologically appropriate areas to fulfill {industry} demand. Desk A3 presents an inventory of home substitutes for imported wooden species. Create an agroforestry dashboard with spatial maps that present market hubs, costs, agro-ecological zones, areas rising bushes and nurseries.
- Conduct Wooden Trade Assessments: Facilitate industry-research establishment partnerships to boost analysis on sustainable plantation administration, specializing in ecological and market suitability. New enterprise fashions are wanted to boost biodiversity, enthno agroforestry and to attenuate environmental impacts.
- Standardize Wooden Harvesting Practices: Reevaluate plantation administration and tackle information gaps in silviculture practices amongst farmers via forest, agriculture, and horticulture establishments. Wooden {industry} associations can advocate for minimal wooden high quality requirements and make clear standardization necessities.
- Improve Wooden Traceability: Develop a web-based tree registration system with species data and Certificates of Origin to advance provide chain transparency. There may be additionally a have to incentivize adoption of nationwide requirements and code of practices associated to wooden and wooden merchandise to enhance product high quality. The latest Indian Forest & Wooden Certification Scheme (2023) launched by the Ministry of Surroundings, Forests and Local weather Change could contribute in the direction of a few of these wants, significantly if {industry} associations additionally advocate for certification and standardization.
- Strengthen State Market Exchanges: Shopping for and promoting of timber is finished largely via unorganized markets (mandis). Digital markets to enhance product data and market effectivity could possible and is being trialed in Punjab. Because the sector grows, industries will also be anticipated to spend money on mandis.
Advice 2: Incentivize Tree Planting
- Guarantee Monetary Assist and Threat Discount: Incentivize tree planting via funds for ecosystem providers and using assorted state-specific schemes that supply subsidies, grants, credit score and insurance coverage. Financing may be required on the supra-farmer degree to convey bigger investments into agroforestry worth chains. Threat discount methods, comparable to insurance coverage to handle hearth, pest and animal dangers, have to be explored via linkages with monetary establishments.
- Leverage Carbon Markets: Discover carbon finance for agriculture and forestry tasks by linking farmers with carbon market builders and supporting farmer producer organizations who could possibly convey a bigger variety of producers collectively. The carbon market is increasing in India with carbon builders anticipating to generate important carbon credit by aggregating small farmers rising horticulture and tree merchandise.
- Perceive challenges to Purchase-back Contracts: Purchase-back contractual preparations between industries and farmers scale back market uncertainties. Nonetheless, such agreements (examples embody WIMCO in Uttarakhand, ITC BPL in Andhra Pradesh, and JK Corp and BILT in Odisha) have been difficult to implement due to non-compliance points, disagreements over phrases, un-expected shocks leading to tree mortality and so on. Nonetheless, as this method is utilized in many elements of the world, it will be helpful to research authorized and different limitations to implementation in India.
Advice 3: Strengthen Enabling Circumstances
- Promote State-Stage Agroforestry Insurance policies: States can create motion plans which can be aligned with the Nationwide Agroforestry Plan and tackle native wants with native language advisories. Bihar’s 2018 Agroforestry coverage serves as a mannequin, highlighting financial and employment advantages, and advocating for agroforestry industrial zones.
- Develop Consortium-Primarily based Agroforestry Fashions: Carry collectively totally different gamers throughout the availability chain to offer farmers with entry to enter and output markets. Tamil Nadu has a profitable mannequin that features nurseries, Krishi Vigyan Kendras, and varied wood-based industries, which might be additional evaluated and replicated.
- Improve Extension and Nursery Assist: Enhance agroforestry by offering farmers with extension providers via Krishi Vigyan Kendras. Nursery certification at the moment being promoted by ICAR-CAFRI has the potential to scale the supply of high quality inputs for agroforestry. Industries additionally have to scale their efforts in nursery improvement and outreach to farmers, presumably via company pledges to purchase again from smallholders.
- Acknowledge that ‘wooden is nice’: The Authorities can encourage using wooden in public procurement processes associated to sectors comparable to building and housing. If facilitated via clear digital marketplaces, this can seemingly create a gentle demand for wood-based merchandise whereas sustaining good governance requirements.
Conclusions
A multi-faceted method to agroforestry can advance India’s inexperienced financial transition. To operationalize a sustainable and worthwhile agroforestry, we might want to align agroforestry practices with market demand, present strong monetary incentives, and acknowledge the significance of appearing at state and nationwide ranges. “Wooden is nice” and might contribute to local weather mitigation, land restoration, and enhanced livelihoods for farmers. Scaling agroforestry will, nevertheless, depend upon collective and collaborative motion amongst market gamers, authorities companies, researchers, and farmers.
