Barren land turns into dense forest in Sambalpur, courtesy Japan’s Miyawaki method

At a time when the green coverage is fast depleting, resulting in the global warming, Japan’s Miyawaki method has brought a new ray of hope for the Sambalpur forest division to grow saplings fast.  

Four months ago, the forest department identified a barren patch of land near Potapalli village under Town Forest Range. The top soil was removed and it was replaced with new and nutrient soil. Then saplings of various indigenous species were planted. Now, the one hectare of land has turned into a lush green forest. 

“Under Miyawaki method, a dense forest can be created quicker than traditional plantatipn method,” observed Bikram Keshari Pradhan, deputy secretary, Ministry of Food Processing Industries. 

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“Earlier, it was a barren land. Now a dense forest has come up there. A watchman is tending the plants,” said Prashant Sahu, forester of the Burla section.

As for the new process, Sambalpur DFO Bishwanath Nilambar said, “We started the process of generating forest in June and completed it by August. We have planted hundreds of saplings of indigenous species. We adopted plantation of the species of different heights.”

In the plantation project, named as Veer Surendra Sai Plantation, all the steps of Miyawaki method have been taken for better growth of the plants. Instead of chemical fertilisers, organic manure was used while pesticide prepared from jaggery, cow urine and cow dung  was used. 

“We should give focus on increasing the forest cover to avail of more oxygen. It is a good step by the Sambalpur forest division. From the growth of the trees, it can be said that the present forest would grow into dense forest after some years,” said Pradosh Acharya, the HOD of the Botany Department at Gangadhar Meher University.