A welcome proposal on sandalwood

After years of dithering, the Karnataka government is finally contemplating allowing the public to sell sandalwood grown in their lands in the open market, a reform that is long overdue.

A skewed policy had taken away much of Karnataka’s claim of being Gandhada Gudi, or the abode of sandalwood. The proposed move has the potential to bring back the state’s lost glory.

Commercial cultivation had never taken off in a big way as sandalwood was considered government property even if it was grown on private land. Though it was deregulated in 2001, it is still mandatory to sell the trees only to the government at a fixed rate, much lesser than the market value.

In addition, the government charges the growers for cutting and transporting the tree, besides a 10 per cent ‘supervision fee’. In fact, private landowners view sandalwood as a liability as they are subjected to unnecessary harassment by the police and the forest department if the trees are felled by smugglers. Many farmers even resort to chopping down young trees to save themselves from such trouble.

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The proposed rule will not have an immediate impact, though, as it takes about 25-30 years for a sandalwood tree to fully mature and command a good price, though some prefer to sell it after 15 years at a lower rate. The reform is also expected to provide an impetus to agro-forestry.

Besides perhaps augmenting the income of farmers, this will meet the increasing demand from the incense, cosmetics, perfume and soap industries. The forest department, which is growing sandalwood in over 1,600 hectares, is also distributing about 10 lakh saplings to farmers every year. Due to the lack of foresight both at the central and state levels, India will continue to remain a net importer even in 2040, though about 30,000 hectares will be brought under sandalwood cultivation.

It has for long been alleged that policymakers deliberately sought to discourage private individuals from growing sandalwood, at the behest of smugglers with whom they were hand-in-glove, as an increase in the supply of this precious wood would naturally bring down the price, and kill demand in the thriving black market where much money is made in this trade.

It has taken over two decades from the point of deregulation to reach the present stage. Government should guard against this proposal being hijacked by vested interests. While a liberalised policy with minimum interference will incentivise farmers to cultivate sandalwood on a larger scale, the government should also ensure that bureaucratic red tape does not come in the way of implementing the new rule, as it has in the past.

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