The best friend on earth of man is the tree: when we use the tree respectfully and economically we have one of the greatest resources of the earth. Mr.S.Kalyana Sundaram, IFS, District Forest Officer (DFO), Thiruvallur Division Thiruvallur at the TIST Small Groups Node Meeting At the outset, TIST India conveys big thanks to Mr.S.Kalyana Sundaram, IFS, District Forest Officer,Thiruvallur Division, Thiruvallur for joining in the TIST Small Groups Node Meeting at Timmabhupalapuram and making the meeting a remarkable one. His visit has increased the confidence level of Small Groups over TIST Program
The DFO expressed that it was his pleasure to join in TIST meeting, TIST - the company which does great work with regard to planting trees, which is in line with the forestry act. He also said that, several companies and NGO’s come up to help the villagers, but suddenly they all vanish, but TIST has been helping villagers in Tamil Nadu for more than 5 years now. He emphasized the members that it is our duty to take care of our environment. Our ancestors saved some trees, with which we are able to survive and now it is our time to plant trees, so that, our upcoming generations have a suitable environment to live in. Finally, the DFO said that, previously any new system or project never reached the villages or villagers, but now situation has changed. The Tamilnadu Forest Department and TIST India are at your door steps at your village, make use of this opportunity. The DFO brought some seedlings for the members of Timmabhupalapuram and he planted few at the Government School premises. TIST Program Coordinator starting the meeting with prayer
Few more well wishers for TIST Program joined in the meeting and shared their experience to the TIST Small Groups: 1. S.Kalyana Sundaram, IFS, District Forest Officer, Thiruvallur Division, Thiruvallur 2. K.Subbiah, Forest Ranger, Thiruvallur Range 3. S.Govindarajan, Forester, Red Hills Range 4. Kumar, Forester 5. A.Narappa Raja, Placepalayam Village Panchayat Head 6. M.Arumugam, Allikuzhi Village Panchayat Head 7. Velu, Vice President of Timmabhupalapuram Village Panchayat 8. Head Master, Panchayat Union School, Timmabhupalapuram Village TIST India wishes big thanks for all the well wishers and request your continuous support and advice.
Visit of Martin Schröder, Project Manager CDM, TUV SUD to TIST India Martin made a three day visit to TIST India tree planting program areas from 20th to 22nd September. During his visit, he visited few tree groves in Semboondy, Vandhavasi, Mel Kodungalur and Placepalayam Centers. Martin’s visit was to see whether TIST India has been doing the tree planting program in line with the Kyoto Protocol system. After his three days visit, he has given us a certificate stating that, TIST GHG Reduction are “real” in that TIST is an actual community tree planting project, its members have planted trees in India and those trees are sequestering carbon. “CONGRATULATIONS” to all Small Groups. We would not have got this certificate without your hard work. Martin visiting the tree groves of Semboondy Center
Martin met the members in the three meetings at Semboondy, Mel Kodungalur and Placepalayam and shared his experience with the members. He also had chat with the members to find out their knowledge on TIST Program – he was impressed on this issue. One very important point which Martin addressed in the meeting was that “you may hear rumors from several areas about carbon trading and what their payment would be, do not get carried away by these. Have faith in TIST Program and keep doing the TIST activities for several years for your development, your village development and finally the whole earth”
TIST Program expanding in Thiruvannamalai District The Arunodhayam Villagers Development Society of Thiruvannamalai District invited TIST India to give a lecture to the villagers at the Training Program organized by Arunodhayam at Thiruvannamalai District. TIST India participated in the training program and explained to the villagers all about TIST Program, starting from (a) Kyoto Protocol, (b) who is TIST, (c) the two modules of TIST – GHG & Sustainable Development, (d) how and how long TIST would be paying incentive for trees. TIST requests all the existing members to introduce your friends / relatives who have barren lands at Thiruvannamalai District to TIST Program, so that, they can also enjoy the benefits of TIST Program.
Useful Tree to Grow The Sapota (Achras Zapota L.) is a delicious fruit introduced from tropical America and first planted at Gholrad near Mumbai in 1898. It’s cultivation has spread to Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. It is evergreen, tropical fruit tree, spreading habit and lives longer upto 100 years. The Sapota when fully ripe is delicious and is eaten as dessert fruit. The pulp is sweet and melting. Besides food values the Sapota fruits are also used in some auverda preparations. The Sapota is a tropical fruit crop and can be grown from Sea level upto 1200 m. height. It prefers a warm and humid weather and grows in both dry and humid areas. The Sapota tree is a hardy perennial and evergreen tree and can be grown on a wide range of soils. Drainage is most important. There should not be a hard pan in the sub-soil. Deep and porous soils make a good growth. The Sapota can tolerate the presence of salts in the soil or in irrigation water to some extent. The Sapota can be propagated by seeds by grafting or by layering.
The planting of grafts is done from June to October, for which pits of 1x1x1 m at the distance of 8 x 8 or 9 x 9 or 10 x 10 m are dug well before the onset of monsoon. The pits are filled in with a well decomposed manure, 5:10:5 mixture, single super phosphate, neem cake and a mixture of micronutrients. Hundred to 120 plants are accommodated in a hectare. The Sapota has a long pre-bearing age and a wider spacing allows enough interspace for growing certain crops for few seasons. The short duration fruit crops like banana, papaya, pineapple or vegetables, different types of lillies or groundnut, chilli, gram,et
Green Revolution Small Group of Placepalayam This Small Group is doing the tree planting activity at Seethanjeri Village at Placepalayam Center. They have more than four different tree species like Mango, Nelli, Teak and few other Indian Species, all planted in an area of 28 acres. Their land is degraded and they have picked the tree species accordingly to suit the present degraded soil condition. This is their best practice. The members have not gone for common tree species like casuarinas or eucalyptus for the degraded soil, instead, they studied their soil and planted some useful and long standing trees. The spacing between each trees are given adequately, so that, their yield is good and more important is that the tree grows to good size and the carbon sequester would also be more. Presently, they have more than 3000 trees in their grove. They are also planning for some more trees to plant in the borders.
Lotus Small Group of Vandhavasi This Small Group is doing the tree planting activity at Vazhuvur Agaram Village at Vandhavasi Center. They have more than three different tree species like, Zingunia a special variety of Casuarina, Teak and few other Indian Species. Their Zingunia Casuarina is a new species for Vandhavasia area. The life span of this variety of Casuarina is about 10 years. No other member have planted this species. The spacing between each Zingunia Casuarina is more approximately 5 feet. All their trees are more than 2 years old, stand about 8-10 feet in height and the tree groves are actually looking like a natural area. There are about 47,186 trees in six different groves. The members of this group do not fail to attend the Node meeting and more important is that, their participation is full of energetic. They grasp as much as possible from the meeting and they also share their experience to others.
