Barren Banke areas become green landscape

By Siraj Khan,Nepalgunj, Dec. 13: Community forest consumer group in Banke are transforming barren and rocky areas into lush green landscapes. 

The consumer group have been planting productive and valuable tree species, replacing shrubs and non-productive vegetation across degraded forest land and former riverbeds.

Madan Kumar Budha, Chairperson of the Shree Rapti Peedit and Gulari Community Forest Users’ Group in Rapti Sonari Rural Municipality-6, said that the number of valuable trees being planted in community forests has increased significantly in recent years. 

He stressed the need to make forests productive, adding, “having only forests is not enough; they must now be made more sustainable and beneficial”.

There are five community forests in Ward No. 6 of Rapti Sonari Rural Municipality. According to Budha, all of them have been gradually planting high-value species in the areas previously covered by unproductive bushes or left barren. 

The Shree Rapti Peedit and Gulariya Community Forest Users’ Group has divided its forest area into five blocks for plantation. Locals said that these efforts have turned previously desolate, open land into green forest.

Local Ramu Tharu said that areas once exposed and barren have now become lush and dense. The group alone has successfully grown 250,000 saplings in its forest area. Budha said they have been planting and protecting different species across the five blocks. To ensure the trees’ survival, sub-committees have been formed for each block, assigning them full responsibility for care and protection. This approach has already delivered positive results.

Budha added that the plantation programme had been initiated by the previous committee, and the current committee is continuing the work. “We must plant around 8,000 saplings per hectare, though not all survive. So far, our group has grown 250,000 saplings across more than 80 hectares of forest,” he said.

The Division Forest Office in Banke has been providing seedlings, fencing, maintenance support and technical assistance for plantation efforts and for protecting young trees from animals.

While the plan initially faced some opposition from locals who used the forest for grazing, the group created separate grazing areas to allow plantations to move forward, Budha said.

Ghagiram Khatri, chairperson of the sub-committee responsible for Block 5, where the latest plantation has taken place, said that the ongoing work will make the forest more productive and beneficial in the future.

He said that the main species planted in their forest include khair and arjun, along with soapnut (reetha), mahua, Indian gooseberry and jackfruit.