Title : Subabul (leucaena leucocephala) clonal forestry: a path forward for solution of fibre resource development to paper industries in India
Abstract:
Global Per capita average paper consumption is 57 Kilogram while in India is 13 Kilogram. India is one of the major producers / consumers of paper and pulp products (3 to 4% of global share). Approximately 9.2 million tonnes wood out of total 20 million tonnes is used by Indian paper industries to produce 16.91 million tonnes from agro forestry & farm forestry plantations and 10.8 million ton is used by the Ply, MDF & Particle board and other sector. Development challenges thus faced by the industry, includes development of robust raw material base, from clonal agro and farm forestry on farmers/private lands, following genetic improvement of Leucaena leucocephala and realization of its potential as a multiple use species.JK Paper Ltd has annual production capacity is about 7,60,000 TPA and having three integrated pulp and paper plants located at Songadh (Gujarat), Rayagada (Orissa) and Kagaznagar (Telangana) producing writing & printing paper and packaging board papers. The annual production capacity of Unit- CPM is 300,000 MT paper & paperboards. The annual wood requirement of CPM unit is about 600,000 MT which comprises of primarily Leucaena, Eucalyptus & Casuarina out of which Leucaena is major (About 75%). For sustainable raw material supply, JKPL is promoting clonal agro & farm forestry plantations programme in adjoining to mill’s catchment area from the year 1996-97.The total demand for wood, over 90% is sourced from industry-driven agro and farm forestry plantations, with the rest from the government and other sources. India’s paper industry is wood-positive that is, it plants more trees outside forest than it harvests. In India, an estimated 500,000 farmers are engaged in growing plantations of Eucalyptus, Subabul, Casuarina, Acacia and Poplar. On average, about 125,000 hectares are being brought under agro and farm forestry on an annual basis, with around 1.2 million hectares on a cumulative basis across the country During the past 25 years, JK Paper has been a pioneer in developing clonal propagation systems to-regenerate these highly productive plantations. Original clonal selections optimized disease resistance, coppicing ability, and volume growth, while recent priorities have moved to improve volume growth and wood quality. The Indian paper industry also found Leucaena species to be a potential raw material for paper making. Farmers are getting farm income much more from subabul clonal plantation as compare to traditional agricultural crops. The productivity of subabul clone approximately is per ha 85 MT in 18-20 months in irrigated land which produces 60CMT/HA/Year better than Eucalyptus planted in India and more beneficially plantation to improve soil of the land due to nitrogen fixation capability and micro climate of plantation area. Consequently several farmers are showing interest for plantation to replace the agriculture crop which has climatic and minimum support price uncertainties. The JK Paper Ltd is executing bilateral agreement with the farmers with the Minimum support price and free technical guidance with harvesting and logistic support done by JK Paper Ltd.
