Delhi, 4 November (H.S.): The National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) has released three crore rupees to farmers cultivating Red Sanders in Andhra Pradesh as part of its Access and Benefit-Sharing (ABS) initiative, which aims to promote the sustainable use of India's biological resources.

In a statement on Tuesday, the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change announced that the NBA has disbursed the funds to 199 beneficiaries. This group includes 198 farmers and producers of Red Sanders (Pterocarpus santalinus) and one academic institution, Andhra University.

The distribution, facilitated through the Andhra Pradesh State Biodiversity Board, is a component of the ABS mechanism under the Biodiversity Act.

Previously, the NBA had released ₹48 crore to the forest departments of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka and the Andhra Pradesh State Biodiversity Board for the protection and promotion of Red Sanders.

An additional ₹55 lakh was issued to farmers in Tamil Nadu. Under the current disbursement, individual beneficiaries will receive amounts ranging from ₹33,000 to ₹22 lakh, depending on the quantity of cultivated Red Sanders wood they supplied to users.

The ministry noted that the beneficiaries are receiving an amount greater than the sale price of the wood.The recipients of this initiative are from 48 villages across four districts of Andhra Pradesh: Chittoor, Nellore, Tirupati, and Kadapa.

This highlights the widespread participation of local farming communities engaged in the cultivation and conservation of this highly valuable endemic species.This initiative follows the recommendations of an expert committee on Red Sanders formed by the NBA in 2015.

The committee drafted a comprehensive policy titled Policy on Conservation, Sustainable Use and Fair and Equitable Benefit Sharing arising from the use of Red Sanders.

A major outcome of the committee's work was a policy exemption by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) in 2019, which permitted the export of Red Sanders from cultivated sources, marking a significant step toward promoting legal and sustainable trade.

---------------

Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar