During 2004-05, 1,765 hectares of wastelands were brought under plantations through social forestry, taking the cumulative total to 4,643 hectares. The project today covers 14 mandals, 224 villages and 6,400 poor households, with the strength of total area under plantation touching 19 million saplings.

ITC’s strategic alliance with the Government of Andhra Pradesh took off to a successful start by bringing 112 hectares of land under clonal plantation.

The year also marked the successful validation of the social forestry model of the Company, under which poor tribals are provided a comprehensive package of support and extension services to help them convert their wastelands into plantations. As at March 2005, 153 poor tribal households had harvested 73 hectares of their plantations, yielding 2,549 tonnes of pulpwood, valued at Rs 37 lakhs. The entire output was purchased by ITC’s Paperboards business. The harvesting households deposited Rs 14 lakhs with the Sanghas towards creation of the village development fund. This successful validation of the social intervention model has greatly reinforced your Company’s belief that it is possible to synergise shareholder value creation with service to society.

Your Company’s social and farm forestry programmes have todate greened 29,230 hectares with over 100 million saplings.