Afforestation benefits 47,000 people in Rajshahi

Forest department’s participatory forestation programme benefited around 47,000 marginalizsed farmers in the region including its vast Barind tract by providing them dividend as their legitimate share for looking after trees, an official said. “The participatory social afforestation programme has improved living and livelihood conditions of some 47000 poor and landless farmers through increasing their income to some extent as they get profit share after being sold trees following 10 years of plantation,” Divisional Forest Officer Ahmed Niamur Rahman told BSS.

Participatory afforestation activities have been enhanced in order to  encourage the rural people in planting saplings and nursing of the transplanted trees, he said. Rahman said the department has been implementing various lucrative programmes in all 31 upazilas of Rajshahi, Chapainawabganj, Natore and Naogaon districts. People of the respective areas were given responsibilities to look after the planted saplings and they get 55 per cent share of the sale after 10 years of plantation while 20 per cent and five percent are distributed among land owners and local government institution concerned, he said.

Successful implementations of the social forestry programme always supplement the government’s poverty reduction effort with facing the adverse impact of climate change in the drought-prone area, he added. Profitable afforestation activities encouraged many people to plant saplings of wood, medicinal and fruit-bearing trees at homesteads, roadsides, office premises, embankments, forest areas, religious institutions’ premises and other places, he said.

Woodlot forest on 2,051.61 hectares of land, agro-forestry on 407.65 hectares and char land forest on 721 hectares have, so far, been created, he said, adding that forestation has been created on 4,686.29-kilometer railway and connecting road lands, 1,621.05-kilometer river embankment and 175- kilometer canal embankments. The department has earned more than Tk 62.18 crore through selling trees. Over Tk 30.18 crore were paid among beneficiary farmers as their profit-shares and Tk 4.85 crore among land owners and institutions.

Afforestation benefits 47,000 people in Rajshahi

Forest departments participatory forestation programme benefited around 47,000 marginalizsed farmers in the region including its vast Barind tract by providing them dividend as their legitimate share for looking after trees, an official said. The participatory social afforestation programme has improved living and livelihood conditions of some 47000 poor and landless farmers through increasing their income to some extent as they get profit share after being sold trees following 10 years of plantation, Divisional Forest Officer Ahmed Niamur Rahman told BSS. Participatory afforestation activities have been enhanced in order to encourage the rural people in planting saplings and nursing of the transplanted trees, he said. Rahman said the department has been implementing various lucrative programmes in all 31 upazilas of Rajshahi, Chapainawabganj, Natore and Naogaon districts. People of the respective areas were given responsibilities to look after the planted saplings and they get 55 per cent share of the sale after 10 years of plantation while 20 per cent and five percent are distributed among land owners and local government institution concerned, he said. Successful implementations of the social forestry programme always supplement the governments poverty reduction effort with facing the adverse impact of climate change in the drought-prone area, he added. Profitable afforestation activities encouraged many people to plant saplings of wood, medicinal and fruit-bearing trees at homesteads, roadsides, office premises, embankments, forest areas, religious institutions premises and other places, he said. Woodlot forest on 2,051.61 hectares of land, agro-forestry on 407.65 hectares and char land forest on 721 hectares have, so far, been created, he said, adding that forestation has been created on 4,686.29-kilometer railway and connecting road lands, 1,621.05-kilometer river embankment and 175- kilometer canal embankments. The department has earned more than Tk 62.18 crore through selling trees. Over Tk 30.18 crore were paid among beneficiary farmers as their profit-shares and Tk 4.85 crore among land owners and institutions.