Eucalyptus pulp minimum procurement price set at Rs 3000/tonne

In a bid to curtail the role of middlemen and help farmers, Koraput district level price fixation committee for non-timber forest produce has fixed the minimum procurement price for eucalyptus wood pulp at Rs 3,000 per tonne (without bark), official sources said.
Earlier, industries used to procure eucalyptus wood pulp from farmers through their agents, who in turn got it from the farmers who were often exploited.
"Also, there was no uniformity in prices offered by the industries to farmers," Koraput collector and chairman of price fixation committee Sachin Jadhav said.
"Now the industries will have to directly purchase wood pulp from the farmers at the MPP and make payment through bank accounts. This will ensure maximum profit to the farmers," he said.

A paper mill in neighbouring Rayagada district and another at Jeypore in Koraput district have agreed to procure wood pulp from farmers at the MPP, a senior official said.
"The industries will bear the cost of harvesting, loading and transportation which was earlier borne by farmers," said divisional forest officer (Koraput) Bijaya Kumar Panda.
Last year, the two paper mills had purchased debarked wood pulp at Rs 2,800 and Rs 2,550 a tonne respectively from farmers of the district. Eucalyptus trees are grown in large numbers in the district, especially at Lamataput block.
Officials said by growing eucalyptus in an acre a farmer can earn around Rs 1 lakh profit, excluding investment of around Rs 75,000 from first to fourth year, if the produce is sold at the MPP.