With over 5,000 downloads on the Google play store since its launch a month ago, ‘Treepedia’ an app developed by the Tamil Nadu Forest Department is looking to revolutionise the way information is made available on planting the right trees across the State.
Sudha Raman, Deputy Director, Vandalur Zoo, said the department had a lot of information on the various species of trees which they had wished to make available for farmers who were looking at agro-forestry, as well as individuals such as home gardeners and institutions in urban pockets to encourage them to increase the green cover. The app has information about around 150 species of trees, which is also available on a website.
“Farmers in particular, we realised, had been turning to the same handful of species for agro-forestry. The app provides information about trees which are best suited to their districts and also has a ‘plantation calculator’ which which can help with the number of trees than can be planted in a given area,” she explained.
Tree directory
Users of the app will get to chose the trees categorised under species, type or location from a ‘Tree Directory’ and as well as look through the models and inter-cropping, which can be implemented by farmers in their agricultural lands.
“The information on the app and the website is available in both Tamil and English. We’ve also encouraged officials to conduct workshops with farmers if they need to be oriented on any queries,” Ms. Sudha added. Through feedback received from the users, the department further plans to build a database to aid in their forestry initiatives across the State.
The app and the website has video tutorials on topics such as transplantation, cultivation techniques of trees such as sandal, silver oak and neem.
‘Stock seeds on demand’
D. Narasimhan, retired professor of Botany said that the app suggested that the Forest department could also ensure that a good stock of seeds are made available based on the demand that the app generates.
“If users are looking for options to increase the green cover in urban spaces, native species could be considered, as most of these areas are largely semi-arid,” he added.
