Indian sandalwood (Santalaum album) is perhaps the most expensive wood on the planet, because of its cosmetic and therapeutic value. There is a great international demand for this, with its heartwood scented for more than Rs. 10,000 per kilo. This tree grows very well in the soil of South India, especially in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, and requires very little water. The cultivation of red sandalwood trees is mainly carried out by planting seeds. In August and March, you can harvest red sandalwood seeds between 15 and 20 years old. The seeds are thoroughly cleaned and dried in the sun before being extracted from nursery beds. If you do not want to grow red sandalwood from seeds, you can buy it in the market and plant it with a proper sandalwood planting technique. However, be careful when shopping at the market. Red sandalwood trees thrive in virtually any type of soil, climate or temperature. The cultivation of red sandalwood trees needs warm and prosperous weather in humid climatic conditions. In addition, temperatures between 12 ° and 35 ° C are necessary for the growth of red sandalwood.
This is the ideal temperature for the Red Sandelwood tree. This species of sandalwood tree thrives between 600 and 1050 meters above sea level. I`m Ramesh, speaking about Redsandal corporate culture in the Nallamala area by Andhra Pradesh, anyone who wants to know more about Redsandal agriculture or invest in Redsandal farmland is welcome to ask me. You can grow sandalwood trees using the drip irrigation technique if you have a limited water supply. Since growing sandalwood requires less water, you can do drip irrigation every two to three weeks. Red sandalwood seedlings should be watered only during the warm, summer months; They do not need watering during the rainy season. This is the best site that explains the cultivation of sandalwood. All escaped, except for a 29-year-old man who was arrested for allegedly trespassing into the protected forest of Seshachalam, where the rare red sandalwood is found.
Officers removed the collar from the man`s dirty polo shirt to reveal a deep purple bruise — evidence that he had pulled the contraband out of his shoulder from the forest. Andhra Pradesh cracked down on illegal logging in 2014 after two foresters died of head injuries when tree cutters threw stones at them. Nearly 100 staff members have been assigned to the Task Force. Thousands of tons of red sandalwood logs have been illegally harvested from the vast rolling jungles of southern India in recent years, feeding a global trade network stretching from the Persian Gulf to China, its most common destination, where the wood is prized for its beauty and has medicinal properties. also as an aphrodisiac. Very informative, useful and easy to understand point about the cultivation of red sandalwood. I have a question please, how do we choose the wavy grain of red sandalwood for planting? Such restrictions discourage most people from growing sandalwood trees. There is also a security threat as sandalwood trees are rare and can attract unwanted attention. Except in wetlands, sandalwood trees can thrive in any soil. To harvest sandalwood from the tree, it takes at least 15 to 20 years of growth.
A circumference of 242 to 3 feet at chest height can be cut from a tree. After seven years, the heartwood begins to mature. The price of sandalwood in India increased daily by Rs 20,000 per tonne in 1980, by Rs 200,000 per tonne in 1990; Rs 4000,000 per tonne in 2004 and Rs 7500,000 per tonne in 2014. India uses all of S.`s albums domestically and export is prohibited (USDA, 1990). The export of timber from India is totally prohibited, with the exception of sandalwood crafts weighing up to 50 g. FAO, 1984 indicates that it is a priority species for the maintenance of the facility. Since then, sandalwood oil and handicrafts have grown in importance. International demand for sandalwood is estimated at 10,000 tonnes per year. The United States and France are the two largest importers of Indian sandalwood oil. Imports to the middle are also increasing. On one hectare of land, a total number of plants will be about 435 plants planted at a distance of 10 x 10 feet.
The farmer can make a profit of about 2.4 crore in 14 to 15 years. The yield of red sandalwood depends on variety, soil type, climate, water installation and cultural practices. Is it the government`s myopia or a ruse of officials working hand in hand with illegal traffickers, wonders R. P. Ganeshan, standing amid his plantation of abrasive red trees that stretch over 19 hectares (ha) in the Eastern Ghats of Tamil Nadu. Over the past two years, this engineer-turned-farmer has been trying to find buyers for his standing produce. He had to wait 20 years for the trees to mature. «But no one is willing to buy them,» he says. He contacted companies like Dabur and Patanjali, but they refused to say there was a lot of bureaucracy to get the license.
«There are different rules in different states. A company in Kerala wanted CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) certificates,» he says. The dichotomy of trading red grinders is fascinating. Although a farmer can grow the tree, he needs permits to cut and transport the wood, which is hard to find. In addition, the price of this wood on the domestic market is half that on the international market, because demand is low. At the same time, the farmer cannot export it because foreign trade policy prohibits it. Ironically, the Indian government itself had requested quotas for the export of CITES red grinding machines, as the tree is classified as a species worthy of protection. Today, the government sells confiscated logs from smugglers to private companies for export by granting them a license. Ganeshan found out when he filed an access to information request. The response he received from the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) was as follows: «According to the existing export policy, wood from red shredders in any form, whether raw, processed or unprocessed, is prohibited for export.» Only value-added products such as dyes and musical instruments made from red mills from legal sources are allowed for export in a restricted category that requires an appropriate permit. It is estimated that there are more than 3,000 farmers like Ganeshan across India who cannot sell their products. The red sander (Pterocarpus santalinus), known for its rich hue and therapeutic properties, is in high demand throughout Asia, especially in China and Japan, for use in cosmetics and pharmaceuticals, as well as for the manufacture of furniture, wooden crafts and musical instruments.
Its popularity can be measured by the fact that a ton of red shredders costs between Rs 50 lakh and Rs 1 crore in the international market. The tree is found in the southern Eastern Ghats and is endemic to several districts of Andhra Pradesh and parts of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. But overexploitation led the EU government in the 1980s to recommend listing red shredders in CITES Appendix II, which states: «Trade must be controlled to avoid use incompatible with their survival.» «The species was listed in CITES Appendix II in 1995 and in 2004 the export of red shredders was banned,» says S K Shanmugasundaram, a retired forest conservator from Tamil Nadu. «States have also regulated the trade in red shredders through a multiple permit process,» he adds. In 2010, when CITES planned to suspend trade in red shredders from India, the government submitted a Non-Harmful Trade Finding (NDF) report indicating that it should be allowed to export from cultivated sources. In 2012, for example, India received a red shredder export quota from CITES, under which the country could export 310 tonnes of red shredder from «artificially reproduced» sources (as in the case of Ganeshan on farms) and 11,806 tonnes of timber from confiscated sources. While Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have held auctions to sell confiscated red shredders, farmers like Ganeshan are not allowed to export their products. The ultimate beneficiaries of auctions are illegal traders and private companies.
Sources say companies like Patanjali source red grinding machines confiscated at auctions. Last year, a Tamil Nadu-based company bought seized red shredders from the Karnataka government and exported about 20 tonnes of seized red logs, according to Vijay Kumar, DGFT`s additional managing director, Bengaluru. Jaykaran Singh, deputy director of the DGFT, explains: «Only confiscated stocks of red shredders can be exported, even if notified by the government.» Thus, while quotas for confiscated stocks have been relaxed by the DGFT for export, the ban continues to apply to crops planted by farmers. Although there is a fixed export quota for red shredders under CITES, the Indian government has banned the export of unprocessed red shredders and has no fixed quota for value-added products made from red shredders such as extracts, dyes and musical instruments.