One lakh hectares of wasteland to be developed

The Andhra Pradesh government has come up with a plan to develop over one lakh hectares of wasteland for raising biodiesel, biofuel plantations and also plantations required for paper industry. The project will be undertaken by the Andhra Pradesh Forest Development Corporation(APFDC).

According officials, the government has already issued instructions to the collectors of 22 districts to identify and transfer 5,000 hectares of wasteland each in their respective districts with blocks having a minimum size of 50 hectares to APFDC.

The steps required for the improvement of soil and moisture content including land levelling would be funded by banks under100 per cent refinancing scheme of the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development(Nabard) which is available at low rates of interest of around 5 per cent, officials said.

The APFDC is expected to tie up with biodiesel companies, biomass power units and paper mills for the supply of the seed and wood for their respective requirements. Identified types of plantations and species will be grown in suitable soils and areas, an official said.

So far, over 30,000 hectares of land has been identified for this purpose from various districts by the district forest officers(DFOs). The APFDC is in the process of verifying the suitability of these lands for growing commercial plantations.

"As the state government also undertook land distribution programme for the landless poor in a big way, officials are finding it a bit difficult to identify the required amount of land for the purpose," an official said, citing the initial hiccups in taking off the project.

As South West monsoons are on their way out, the land development and plantation activity may be kick started only during the North East monsoon period later this year, an APFDC official observed. Cost estimation of the project and subsequent financial tie ups with banks will be undertaken only after identifying the land, the official said.