Role of Private Sector in Agro-forestry and Supply of High Quality Planting Stock

India has growing shortages of timber and wood-based products. Agro-forestry plantations promoted by wood-based industries and raised by a large number of small farmers and imports play a major role in bridging the demand supply gap. Private sector companies like Wimco and ITC have played sterling role in promoting technology based high yielding clonal plantations under agro-forestry on commercial scale. Productivity of clonal plantations is many times higher compared to the productivity of normal seedlings. Many wood-based industries are now emulating their healthy example. Unfortunately, current policies are neither conducive to involvement of private sector in the urgent task of restoration of degraded forests nor to the integrated development of agro-forestry plantations and wood-based industries. Therefore, policy makers, professional foresters, wood-based industries and civil society should join hands to usher in a second green revolution - this time based on wood production through technology based plantations using genetically improved seed and clonal planting stock. Instead of being importers of huge quantities of timber and wood-based products into India, it is possible for India to emerge as net exporter of timber and woodbased products if we adopt innovative policies and involve all sections of society including the corporate sector to raise technology based plantations on suitable degraded forest lands and exploit full potential of agro-forestry plantations.