TIST
April 2007
CHEZHUMAI
Trees are the earth's endless effort to speak to the listening heaven - Rabindranath Tagore
Visit of Jamal Gore, Managing Director, Carbon Clear Limited, United Kingdom
Jamal Gore of Carbon Clear Limited from United Kingdom had visited TIST India during March 2007. His visit was to explore our project for carbon trading business.
Jamal attended the Node meeting at Mel Kodungalur on 24th March and had good interaction with the Small Group Members at the Node. He had also asked several questions pertaining to TIST Tree Planting work, for which, the members of Mel Kodungalur, Vandhavasi and Semboondi answered appropriately.
On 24th March, Jamal visited the tree groves of Vasudev, Arulagam, Lotus, Balaji, Chamundeswari and ArulparamJothi Small Group at Mel Kodungalur, Vandhavasi and Vellaputur. He was pleased to see the name plate erected in the groves. Sridhar of Balaji Small Group gave a good lecture to Jamal about the TIST Small Group activities. He explained to Jamal about the different tree species and their care to grow the tree well. Murahari of Arulagam Small Group explained to Jamal about intercropping, like (1) when to start the intercropping, (2) till what period intercropping should be done, (3) for what all tree species intercropping can be done, and (4) in what all way the intercropping helps the trees. Balu of Arulparamjothi Small Group explained lot about fruit bearing trees and Jamal was very happy to see the fruit bearing mango grove of Arulparamjothi.
Jamal also visited the Gobar Gas producing yard of Balaji Small Group and had tea cooked from gobar gas. Using the natural gobar gas is yet another way to reduce the contamination level in the atmosphere.
TIST thanks all the members for making Jamal Gore’s visit a success.
Recruitment of New Small Groups in March-April 2007
1. More than 100 Small Groups have been recruited at Placepalayam, Adisanpuram, Nariyan Konai, Allikuzhi, Pudukandigai and Timmabhupalapuram of Thiruvallur area.
2. 20 Small Groups have been recruited at Keeranallur Village of Molachur area.
3. 7 Small Groups have been recruited at Kodungalur area.
All the upcoming new TIST
Small Groups are requested to go through the important eligibility requirements. Here are the main requirements that have to me met by Small Group to qualify for the TIST Program
1. There should be 6 to 12 members in your Small Group from at least 3 different families.
2. Each Small Group should have a minimum of 1,000 live trees within 1- year after joining the TIST program.
3. Each Small Group should have a minimum of 5,000 live trees within 5- years after joining the TIST program.
4. Your Small Group should replant trees that die, for any reason, each year for at least 20 years
5. All Small Groups should sign the Greenhouse Gas contract.
6. TIST will pay US$ 0.03 (Rs. 1.50) per live tree per year (please review Greenhouse gas contract for more details on payment)
7. Tree species that are treated as bushes or hedges (less than 4 meters tall) would not be counted as TIST trees.
8. Trees planted at a spacing of less than 2 meters will not be counted as TIST trees.
9. TIST will allow harvesting of live trees that are 10 years or older. However, total trees harvested in any year should not exceed 5% of the group’s total live trees.
10. Each Small Group should have less than 33% "short rotation trees" (example Eucalyptus). Present groups who have planted much more than 33% short rotation trees will have five years (until 2012) to plant additional trees and or harvest present trees until they meet this requirement.
11. TIST Small Groups should allow TIST quantifiers to come and quantify their trees once a year. Small Groups should organize with other Small Groups in their area to provide food and shelter for the quantifiers during these annual quantification visits.
12. Members of each Small Group should meet together to share ideas and best practices every week. If meeting every week is not possible then group members should meet at least once a month.
13. Small Group members should provide proof of land ownership or control for land where they have planted TIST trees.
14. Small Group members should participate in TIST training to help develop and share best practices with other TIST groups.
15. The area where your Small Group is located should have other Small Groups, that are all within walking distance of each other, that have planted a combined total of 100,000 live trees within 1-year with a potential to plant a combined total of 300,000 trees in 5-years.
Placepalayam & Timmabhupalapuram - New Clusters
A cluster is an area within which 40-60 Small Groups are all located within walking distance of each other. Having clusters of groups reduces the distances traveled by trainers and quantifiers to reach the group members and their trees. In say one month, quantifiers can quantify many more groups that are all within one or more clusters compared to quantifying groups that are scattered. Similarly, the number of groups that can be trained in month by TIST trainers will be much higher if the training is inside clusters where all groups can attend by walking to the training event. Therefore, Clusters reduces the cost for running the TIST program. Placepalayam & Timmabhupalapuram are two new Clusters for TIST India.
Intercropping should not be done for all the trees
Intercropping is the agricultural practice of cultivating two or more crops in the same space at the same time. A practice often associated with sustainable agriculture and organic farming, intercropping is one form of polyculture.
In intercropping, there is often one main crop and one or more added crops, with the main crop being the one of primary importance because of economic or food production reasons. As of now in TIST India the main crops are the longstanding trees. Whereas, in TIST Projects in Africa, under conservation farming varied types of intercropping is practiced, for example, Beans is intercropped with Bananas and Vanila.
TIST India Small Groups will be given training on Conservation Farming from May 2007 The most common goal of intercropping is to produce a greater yield on a given piece of land by making use of resources that would otherwise not be utilized by a single crop. Careful planning is required, taking into account the soil, climate, crops, and varieties. It is particularly important not to have crops competing with each other for physical space, nutrients, water, or sunlight. Examples of intercropping strategies are planting a deep-rooted crop with a shallow-rooted crop, or planting a tall crop with a shorter crop that requires partial shade.
TIST India Small Groups will be given training on Conservation
Farming from May 2007 The most common goal of intercropping is to produce a greater yield on a given piece of land by making use of resources that would otherwise not be utilized by a single crop. Careful planning is required, taking into account the soil, climate, crops, and varieties. It is particularly important not to have crops competing with each other for physical space, nutrients, water, or sunlight. Examples of intercropping strategies are planting a deep-rooted crop with a shallow-rooted crop, or planting a tall crop with a shorter crop that requires partial shade.
The members of Arulagam Small Group are having few hundred Sandol Wood Trees. In one of the groves, the growth of the Sandal Wood Trees is weak. This is because in this grove they had some short time crops as intercropping. This short time crops have taken away the maximum physical space, nutrients and water in the initial stage of the trees and so all the trees in this grove are week. The members have found that intercropping should not be done for Sandol Wood Trees.
All the small groups are requested to have this idea in mind while planning for intercropping.
Plant useful Trees
Many Small Groups are planting some useful trees, which will give them some additional income other than TIST voucher. ArulparamJyothi Small Group of Vellaputur is one such Small Group who has planted trees prudently. They have trees like, Lime, Sweet Lime, Teak, Mango and Nelli.
Hundreds of seedlings like, Mango, Pala, Cotton, Lime, Sweet Lime and Sandal Wood are kept ready for transplanting during rainy season. Altogether, five different types of fruit bearing trees/seedlings are there with them. These trees yield during different seasons, so from next 3-4 years, this Small Group would be having good additional income round the year.