In view of dwindling Natural forests and ban on logging, India needs to depend more and more on “Agro-wood†to meet its requirements. Species hitherto unutilized or underutilized, are put to use and upgraded to suit different end uses. To achieve this, wood technology interventions are necessary. Formulation of a national wood policy will lead to coordinated efforts in developing technologies, infrastructure, marketing strategies etc for rational utilization of wood. The challenge before the industry is to develop the capability to accept and process available wood raw material into products with acceptable quality. Wood science and technology should be first of all considered as a resource generating tool for various activities instead of looking upon the field as a means of exploiting available wood from existing forests. A well coordinated multidisciplinary approach is required for planning wood science technology on a national level. Wood needs to be researched upon as a material of National importance to meet the needs of scientific advances. Therefore, production and use of wood that sustains its supply in achieving self-sufficiency rather than self-denial needs to be given priority, if necessary, by bringing in policy changes.
Wood, nature’s miracle material, despite the advent of other modern materials continues to play an important role in the day to day life of man. Usage of wood ranges from fuel wood, packaging, housing, furniture, transportation to engineered wood products like plywood, particle board, Medium Density Fibre Board (MDFB), Oriented Strand Board (OSB) etc. and is available in various sizes almost everywhere. Timber, at the same time, is as strong as steel due to its cellular nature and is 5-6 times stronger than cement-concrete on weight to weight basis. Thermal insulation of wood is 15 times better than concrete, 6 times better than bricks and 1770 times better than aluminium which makes it the most desired material for construction and other industrial purposes. Its renewable nature and compatibility to regenerate naturally or artificially subject to scientific harvesting and management of tree stands, have made it the most attractive and indispensable raw material. In India, wood and wood industries fulfill several key needs of the society and much of the timber is used by a large number of small users in domestic, agricultural and artisanal sectors like housing, furniture, wooden marine crafts, toys, handicrafts etc. Our society has explored the versatility of wood since centuries and therefore, there is, at present, an acute shortage of traditional timber for various industrial and other purpose.
Reasons are mainly attributed to:
a) Degradation of natural production forests mainly due to over exploitation.
b) Non-scientific use of timber (inefficient and wasteful usage pattern).
c) Incremental environmental concerns which have prompted setting aside most of the forest areas for conservation of biodiversity and for other environmental values.
d) Growing human and livestock population.
e) Phenomenal hike in prices of conventional timbers
(Source: This is an abstract taken from the 'My forest' Journal; March - June 2017. The authors are Pankaj Aggarwal and P. R. Triveni. You can read the entire article at aranya.gov.in)
