Dzüvinuo Theünuo & Ruopfülenuo Houzha
Having realized the economic value and environment role of trees, people of Nagaland have during the last few decades brought large areas under forest plantations. The momentum is still on, thereby creating a large demand for forest nursery seedlings both by private and government organizations. Success of forest plantation depends on quality of planting materials used, time of planting and subsequent maintenance. Therefore, there is an urgent need to establish nurseries in every district Headquarters for production of high quality fast growing local species to meet the growing demand of the people. The establishment of Central Forest Nursery at Kohima is a step in this demand, with the following objectives:
1. Establish permanent infrastructure for production of forest nursery seedlings.
2. Raise quality planting materials (QPM) for plantation by private and government organizations through use of modern technology such as Root Trainers, Sprinkler Irrigations, Biofertilisers, Vegetative propagations, etc.
3. Serve as demonstration nursery for present and future Joint Forest Management Committees, local entrepreneurs, etc in production of quality planting materials.
4. Improve skill and capacity of Kohima Forest Division field staff in production of quality forestry saplings.
5. Contribution to forest cover of the State to achieve the target of 66% geographic area under effective tree cover.
The Nursery comprises of the following infrastructures:
i. Germination Chamber: The Nursery has a Germination Chamber using UV stabilized sheets to hasten the process of germination of seeds and vegetative propagation.
ii. Root Trainers: The Nursery also has a Root Trainer based nursery sufficient to raise many thousand of quality saplings.
iii. Permanent Nursery Beds: There are 15 permanent nursery beds with agro-sheding nets facility to raise almost one lakh quality planting materials.
iv. Seasonal Nursery Beds: There are about 110 nos. of seasonal nursery beds for raising nursery in open-air condition for production of both polypot seedlings and naked seedlings. Nearly 35000 Polypot seedlings and many thousands of naked seedlings are being produced in this category.
v. Sprinkler Irrigation: The Root Trainer nursery and permanent nursery beds have been provided with Sprinkler Irrigation system, which has many advantages compared to traditional method of irrigation.
vi. Protection Wall: The Nursery also has a security brick wall/chain linked fence has been created to protect the nursery from stray animals and unauthorized entry that measures nearly 850 feet in length.
vii. Irrigation Facility: For irrigation a permanent water source available within the nursery area has been tapped through gravity irrigation. To supplement the possible shortage of water during the dry season, syntax water tank has been installed above the nursery whereby, water brought by vehicles can be conveniently transferred to the tanks. A water pump has been installed to power the Sprinkler Irrigation.
viii. Input Shortage Shed: An input shed has been constructed in the nursery for storage of inputs and tools, etc.
More than 20 species of forest nursery seedlings are being raised during the current year. Major species are Lali, bamboo, Eucalyptus, Hollock, Cherry, Wild apple, Salix, Alder, Parkia, Ficus, local wild fruit, walnut, etc.
Major infrastructure of the nursery mainly, protection wall, permanent and temporary nursery beds, foot steps, input storage shed, tapping of irrigation water, etc have been done under Twelve Finance Commission Award 2005-06, while construction of germination chamber, agro-net shed, root trainers nursery, installation of Sprinkler irrigation and water tanks and establishment of the nursery, etc have been done under High Tech Nursery from NAEB, MoEF, Government of India.
It is hoped that people of Nagaland, especially Forest Department staff, JFMCs and residents of Kohima town in particular will be benefited immensely from the nursery.
(Source: Department of Forests, Nagaland)
(A DIPR feature)
