The Hindu Business Line : APFDC profits at Rs 16.46 cr last fiscal

THE Andhra Pradesh Forest Development Corporation (APFDC) which took on lease 86,000 hectares of degraded land for development on commercial line 25 years ago has since successfully raised plantations of eucalyptus, bamboo, cashew, coffee and teak, making a profit of Rs 16.46 crore for 2001-2002.

Mr C. Subba Rao, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of the corporation, told presspersons here on Wednesday that APFDC had cleared all bank loans by March 1998 and accumulated reserves of Rs 8.46 crore.

It had raised eucalyptus in 42,000 ha, eucalyptus clonal in 9,200 ha, bamboo in 12,200 ha, cashew in 18,000 ha, coffee in 4,000 ha and teak in 500 ha.

The corporation had won the National Productivity Council of the Ministry of Agriculture recognition as the second best producer in horticulture for 1986-87 and 1989-90. To improve productivity and achieve sustainable development, it had taken to watershed approach, clonal technology, organised harvesting methods and adoption of better planting practices.

With the adoption of better technologies, the corporation was able to supply annually 50,000 tonnes of pulpwood to industries, 10,000 tonnes of faggot woods to bio-energy projects, one lakh props and 3000 metres of chock timber to Singareni Collieries, 10,000 tonnes of bamboo industrial cuts to paper industries and 1400 tonnes of coffee beans and 48 tonnes of pepper to the domestic market.

Mr Subba Rao said that Rs 6-crore Vanaspati Van Project was being implemented to raise and conserve medicinal plants in more than 3,000 ha. As an agent of the Government, it was organising beedi leaves collection worth Rs 40 crore every year.

To replant eucalyptus in 5,530 ha at a cost of Rs 35.19 crore over the next five years, negotiations were being held with banks to finance the project.

Similarly, to raise bamboo plantations in 5,300 ha with an outlay of Rs 30.47 crore over nine years, banks had been approached to finance the scheme. As part of an eco-tourism project, development of botanical gardens in 125 acres of reserve forest at Kothaguda village with an outlay of Rs 22 crore had been entrusted to Bilara Tourism Corporation, a private party, under the `design, build, finance and operate' (DBFO) scheme. The Centre's clearance for the scheme was awaited, he said.

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