Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu flagged off aerial seeding of the hills in the city and the CRDA limits in Krishna and Guntur districts on Friday. Mr Naidu flagged of a helicopter for the aerial seeding of nearly 1,500 hectares of degraded forest on hill slopes that are not suitable for traditional methods of sowing.
Aerial seeding is a technique of sowing seeds using helicopters and aeroplanes to scatter them. Aerial reforestation was usually done to repopulate forest land after some type of disaster since the 1930s.
Addressing school children who came to witness the flagging off of the helicopter Mr Naidu said that the State Government had set a target of planting 500 crore saplings in the next five years. He said that 150 tonnes of seed was available for the purpose in the State, more seed would be procured if necessary.
He said that information about children and others planting and protecting saplings would be put online through “geotagging”. He said children should derive inspiration by planting a tree on their birthdays, on the day they achieve victory or face the challenge of defeat and one tree for every day they are happy.
Minister for Environment Bojjala Gopala Krishna Reddy said that Krishnapatnam Port Authorities took up the programme at an estimated cost of Rs. 50 lakh. Special Chief Secretary (Forests) A K Parida said that aerial seeding was being taken up in 27 locations covering 1,080 hectates in Guntur District and 374.67 hectares in Krishna District.
Vijayawada DFO P J Benerjee said that the seeds of five forest spices – Neem, Tamarind, Subabul, Konda Tangedu (Millettia auriculata) and Konda Ganuga (Indian Beech) – that had been pre-germinated and palletised (coated with clayey substance) would be seeded aerially. The coating would provide the seed protection and the substratum for germination initially. About 10 kg seed would be scattered per hectare, he said.
Former Assistant Conservator or Forest turned environmental activist P Gracious said that aerial seeding was a success in Vijayawada. The hills within the city were seeded when Jandhyala Sankar was the mayor (1987-92). Aerial seeding had to be followed up with protection because the shoots that come out were highly relished by grazing livestock.
The Gandhi Hill did not have any greenery a few decades ago, but today the entire hill is covered by trees because of aerial seeding followed up by protection. A bigger quantity of seed had to be used in this technique because the success rate was comparatively less.
Planes were used to seed mountain areas in Honolulu that were inaccessible to traditional methods after forest fires. Surplus planes from World War II were initially used for aerial seeding, with the open cockpit Stearman biplane used frequently.
