unreliable crops and income from his arid land. Over the last five years,
his life and land have transformed. As a beneficiary of ITC’s Social Forestry
Programme, he has been able to convert 4.6 acres of wasteland into viable plantations.
When he reaped his first
pulpwood harvest in September 2005, it was nothing less than a windfall. He sold 102 tons
of pulpwood and earned Rs 1,65,555. He repaid Rs 20,000 he had borrowed from the village
rotating fund set up by ITC to help tribals like him raise plantations. Even after
repaying his bank loan, he had enough surplus cash to invest in a motor pump for
agricultural use, start a fixed deposit worth Rs 85,000 with the State Bank of India,
purchase an acre of paddy land and take an LIC policy. Laxminarayana wants to grow more
trees. Because he has a house to build and a younger son to settle.
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