Gujarat kicks off tree plantation drive

The state government plans to plant close to 25 lakh trees around 1.28 lakh farm ponds in the state. The proposal "" the Kalpavruksha project "" has been weaved into the Sujalam Sufalam programme launched in May this year.

In the initial stage of the programme, 1500 trees will be planted around 37 farm ponds in Gondal Taluka of Rajkot district.

The state government had introduced the Sujalam Sufalam project for rain water harvesting in May 2004. The government had then set a target to build over a lakh farm ponds.

"By now we have succeeded in building 1.28 farm ponds. To encourage the farmers for tree plantation in their farms, we have now launched the Kalpavrukhsa project," said Gordhan Jadafia, chairman of the project implementation committee of this programme.

Giving detail of this project, Jadafia said fruit-bearing trees will be planted around the farm ponds so that the farmer in possession of the farm pond may the benefit from the fruit yield. Such plantations will also stop the erosion of land.

"By growing the fruit giving trees the farmers will get the benefit of yield of fruit and will be able to get additional income from their field," Nagdanbhai Chavda, district chairman of this scheme, said.

Under this programme, a farmer with a farm pond will be given 20 saplings of fruit-bearing trees at 50 per cent of the cost.

Of these, 15 will be small saplings and five will be graftings of fruit trees. At present some 3777 farm ponds have been made in the whole of Rajkot district.

Twenty fruit trees will be grown on each of these, making a total of 75000 tree in all.