ITC’s fibre strategy is a telling example of linking business purpose with the
creation of sustainable livelihoods. The Company has creatively leveraged its need for
sustainable sources of high quality wood fibre to provide significant livelihood
opportunities to economically backward wasteland owners.
The main plank of this initiative is the
building of grassroots capacities which initiate a virtuous cycle of sustainable
development. ITC, working with select NGOs and the Government of Andhra Pradesh, selects
poor tribals with wastelands and organises them into self-supporting forest user groups.
The user group leaders are trained in the best silvicultural practices to grow high
quality timber as a viable crop. They are also trained to grow other local species to meet
their domestic fodder, fuel and nutrition requirements.
ITC provides a comprehensive package of
support and extension services to farmers encompassing loans, land development, planting
of saplings, plantation maintenance, marketing and funds management. This intervention has
been institutionalised by creating village-level natural resource management committees
comprising local farmers. At the heart of this comprehensive greening project is ITC's
state-of-the-art research centre at Bhadrachalam. Biotechnology research enables ITC to
make available high-yielding, disease-resistant clonal saplings, thereby presenting
attractive land-use alternatives to traditional farmers and wasteland owners.
