GUWAHATI: Assam is set to reclaim its rightful position of being the agar capital of the country, said state environment and forest minister Chandra Mohan Patowary during a stakeholders’ conference on Assam Wood Based Industries (Promotion and Development) Rules, 2022 and Assam Trees Outside Forest (Sustainable Management) Rules, 2022.
The stakeholders’ conference was organised by the state environment and forest department here on Tuesday.
The minister also addressed media persons to elaborate on the Assam government’s big green economy initiative revolutionising wood-based industry and trees outside the forest.
It may be mentioned that Assam became a pioneer in the country by bringing out a notification of Assam Wood Based Industries (Promotion & Development) Rules, 2022 and Assam Trees Outside Forest (Sustainable Management) Rules, 2022 in January 2023.
Both the Rules are fully synchronised for efficient fulfilment of both greening and growth objectives.
These Rules provide a major boost to the local green economy by encouraging growth in employment and income by channelising public and private investment into activities that mitigate climate change, enhance energy and resource efficiency and prevent the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services.
Informing about the policies, the forest minister said that through the implementation of these Rules, the state was set to reclaim the rightful position of being the agar capital of the country.
“The vision is to bring back the glory of the wood-based industry sector in the state of Assam. These Rules aim for optimal utilisation of the agro-climatic potential of Assam to bring revolution in the cultivation of trees outside the forest to augment the livelihoods of the farmers as well as to meet the raw material demand of wood-based industries in Assam, from non-forest sources, in an ecologically sustainable manner,” he informed.
Patowary said the Assam government, under the leadership of the chief minister, is endeavouring to increase the forest cover of the state from the present 36 per cent to 38 per cent.
“But simultaneously, the farmers of the state are also being encouraged to plant high-value trees like sandal and agar for deriving economic benefits,” he said.
The forest minister also informed that now a farmer could register online the trees he was planting outside the five-km radius of forest areas and once fully grown, farmers could apply online for felling those trees.
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“This process will considerably ease the system of obtaining approval for farmers while enabling them to reap dividends,” he said.
“We are looking at facilitating the plywood industry in the state by exploring options of planting fast-growing and high-yielding trees in the state. Our government has also set up an agar trade centre at Golaghat and we hope to help the agar wood-based industries in the state for economic development’’ the forest minister informed.
Additional chief secretary of the forest department Ravi Shankar Prasad and other senior officers were also present at the media conference.
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