10,000 Seed Balls Planted In J&K's Doda To Increase Forest Cover

In an innovative approach to increase forest cover, the Bhadarwah Forest Division in Doda district on Friday sowed around 10,000 seed balls in Rainda Faat area under the Neeru forest range, officials said.

Seed balls of indigenous varieties such as Cedar, Kail and Bamboo were sowed using a specialised method in a seven-hectare earmarked area by the personnel of the territorial forest department, Forest Protection Force and students of PG college in Bhadarwah, the officials said.

They said a team of experts from Bhadarwah Forest Division, who conducted the trial of Bamboo for the first time in Chenab region, will monitor the growth of the seed balls for a year and if the seeds survive to grow into a thick vegetation, the project will be extended to other high altitude forests.

"Bhadarwah has been selected for the pilot project as there are hills more than 12,000-feet high where plantation is really difficult. In an effort to replant forests that have suffered massive deforestation, we have experimented with seed balls of Bamboo plants for the first time," senior forest official Chander Shekhar said.