VIJAYAWADA: The carbon emission from the industries which leads to global warming has been increasing at an alarming rate in the country, as well as in the state. Emissions may be tracked over long time periods, known as historical or cumulative emissions measurements. To deal with the issue, the International Centre For Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF) initiated an increase in Trees Outside Forests (TOF) by about 8 per cent across seven states in the country, including Andhra Pradesh.
According to the statistics of the forest department, the tree cover in the state is about 3,194 sq km and that of TOF is 5,018 sq km. The extent of TOF is 8,932 sq km in the state. The area under horticulture crops is 17.84 lakh hectares with a production of 312.34 lakh metric tons, in the state.
The state stands first in the production of chillies, cocoa, lime, oil palm, papaya and tomato; second in cashew, mango and sweet orange in India and ranks 1 in terms of area and production of fruits and spices and second in micro irrigation area coverage. The top species in numbers in TOF in rural areas of Andhra Pradesh are mango at 29.44 per cent, plumeria at 11.72 per cent, neem at 9.84 per cent, coconut at 7.95 per cent and cashew at 5.20 while in urban it is coconut at 16.46 per cent, neem 11.66 per cent, mango at 7.69 per cent, teak at 7.23 per cent and pongamia at 6.88 per cent. In coastal areas of Andhra Pradesh, borassus is the most frequent palm.
The teams of the ICRAF noticed 391 hectares of culturable wasteland with a percentage of 2.40 and 858 hectares of fallow land other than current fallow (seasonal fallows) with 5.27 per cent. A huge part of these lands was identified in Sri Satya Sai, YSR Kadapa, Kurnool, Tirupati, Guntur, and Prakasam districts.
P Suman Kumar, state associate of ICRAF said, “We are planning to utilise the wastelands by forming village clusters in three districts as a part of the first phase, to develop the TOF by sensitising the farmers about health and economic benefits. We are also planning to create marketing of the trees grown by the farmers to generate income for them from plywood industries, food processing units and many others,” he said.
Speaking to TNIE, D Jagan Mohan Reddy, State (TOFI ) Project Coordinator, ICRAF, said “Our project is geared towards planting and raising tress outside the forest. There is a need for research and development (R&D) if all the departments including the horticulture department, forest department, rural and development and others, come forward to work together for the TOF project and help in achieving the goal of 33 percent forest area.”
“I request all the departments to lend support to educate the farmers of its benefits. We planned to implement the carbon credit income policy for the farmers with an aim to decrease carbon emission and global warming,” added he.