Gandhada Gudi in your backyard

Gandhada Gudi in your backyard

Sandalwood tree can now be cultivated by everyone

The forest department will now help people including farmers grow, fell and sell sandalwood trees

Bosky Khanna. Bangalore
Srigandha, as sandalwood is known in Kannada, can now adorn your backyard as well. And you can not only cultivate the tree and spread its fragrance but also harvest financial gains from the high rates the tree commands in the market.
Sandalwood, which till recently was considered a state tree and could be harnessed only by the government, is now like any tree, thanks to changes brought about in the relevant laws.
The state government has amended the Forest Conservation Act, 1963. Under the Chapter 10 of the amended law, the forest department will now help people including farmers grow, fell and sell sandalwood trees. The department opened a sandalwood helpline from July 5, 2008.
The authorities hoped that it could set off a chain link wherein it would encourage people take up sandalwood cultivation and these people would in turn help others also take up the same.
The helpline has till date received over one lakh queries and orders for sandalwood saplings. The department is finding it difficult to meet the demand.
The overwhelming response has only added to the department's responsibilities. The department provides saplings and also ensures that the trees are protected, cut and disposed of.
"From December, we have begun regulating the felling of sandalwood trees,'' Bangalore Urban deputy conservator of forests RK Srivatsava told DNA.
According to the new regulation, healthy sandalwood trees in the age group of 12-25 years cannot be felled, as these mother trees play a vital role in seed dispersal. Trees with a girth of 20 cm and above cannot be axed. They will be fenced with metal-gauges, registered and numbered, which will help the department know the number of trees present in Bangalore.
The department had recently ordered the felling of 26 sandalwood trees in the Institute of Wood Science and Technology. But the new regulation will now be guiding the felling of these trees.
The department also provides help to fell the trees and sell them. The owner is free to sell them to any of the three players in the organised market: the Karnataka Soaps and Detergents Limited, Karnataka State Handicrafts Development Corporation and Karnataka State Forest Department.
The sandalwood sale price has also been increased from Rs8 lakh per tonne to Rs20 lakh per tonne. The new rate is expected to effectively neturalise the black market where the going rates are Rs2,000 per kilogram.