EVALUATION OF NATIONAL AFFORESTATION PROGRAMME (NAP) OF KOZHIKODE FOREST DEVELOPMENT AGENCY

The National Afforestation Programme (NAP) Scheme, implemented by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Govt. of India, aims to support and accelerate the ongoing process of devolving forest protection, management and development functions to decentralized institutions of Joint Forest Management Committee (JFMC) at the village level, and Forest Development Agency (FDA) at the forest division level. The overall objective of NAP is to develop the forest resources and improve productivity of the forest with people’s participation, with focus on improvement in livelihoods of the forest-fringe communities, especially the poor. The present evaluation study deals with the Aided Natural Regeneration (ANR) component of NAP, initiated by the Kozhikode FDA in ten VSSs during 2004-2005. Major activities envisaged under the ANR programme were Awareness creation and Entry point activities, Identification of site and species for planting, Raising Nurseries, Micro planning on treatment of the area, Pitting and preparation of planting platforms, Soil and moisture conservation measures and Live fencing

Most of the sites identified are open degraded area and is suitable for ANR activities. Some places are with good vegetation, which obstructs sunlight to new seedlings. In some areas, the number of species selected was very few. It is necessary to change the nature of species from commercial species to planting of usufruct based trees. These should be supplemented with grasses, legumes, shrubs and bushes to yield fuel wood and fodder in the shortest possible time. The restoration of ecological balance in the degraded forest areas requires planting of as many species possible considering the climatic condition of the area. Inclusion of some herbaceous plants with medicinal value will help to establish a ground cover and will have some economic potential in the immediate future. Nurseries were prepared scientifically in almost all areas. Instead of establishing a central nursery, it can be tried in the homesteads of the members so that people’s participation and awareness creation can be improved. Micro plan enlisting each every activity in the planted area in a time based manner is to be prepared. The main soil and moisture conservation done in the area are edakayyala and gully plugs. Even though this was done satisfactorily, it seems that no proper survey was done for identification of places for gully plugs. Little more scientific design will help the sustainability of this activity. Contour terracing can also be attempted which is less expensive. More training is to be imparted in this regard. Live fencing is attempted mainly with Gliricidia (Vlakonna). But in areas like forests this will not prevent animals like deer, wild boar etc which graze on the newly planted seedlings. Agave plantation to some extend will prevent some animals. Thrny plants like Euphorbia (Kalli) can be tried in this regard