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Tamil Nadu Newsprint and Papers Ltd plans to take under captive plantation over 10,000 acres of degraded land to raise pulp wood for raw material.
In the current year, it will raise eucalyptus and casuarina on 3,000 acres in the Noyyal River area where land polluted by effluents from the Tirupur textile dyeing units is lying unused. It will add 3,000 acres yearly to bring more land under production.
Production capacity
The printing and writing paper manufacturer with an annual paper production capacity of over four lakh tonnes adds over 15,000 acres of land under farm forestry, through agreements with small farmers, and captive plantation where land parcels of minimum 25-acre are available, to raise pulpwood plantations.
In the current year, the company - which has over 85,000 acres under pulpwood plantations - will complete its targeted one lakh acres of pulp wood plantation, according to sources in the know.
It has secured its pulp wood raw material requirement through this initiative.
Last year, it got about 2.75 lakh tonnes of pulp wood, more than half its pulp wood requirement, and is set to get over 3 lakh tonnes in the current year.
The balance 1.5 lakh tonnes of wood it gets from Tamil Nadu Forest Plantation Corporation with which it has a long term tie up.
In addition, it uses about 10 lakh tonnes of bagasse, the fibrous material from sugarcane, which it sources from sugar mills.
Taking lands under the captive plantation in Noyyal area not only makes wasted lands productive, the proximity of raw material to the factory will also give it cost benefit.
The closest of the degraded areas are just about 20 km from the factory in Karur District while the plantations, apart from Karur, will be in neighbouring Coimbatore, Tirupur and Erode.
Benefiting land owners
The benefit to the land owners is the company will fully handle the job of raising plantations, including soil remediation and providing planting material, up to the first harvest five-six years later.
It will pay an annual lease of Rs 4,000 an acre and take a 70 per cent share in the first harvest.
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