Present Practices in Mechanisation of Forest Site Clearance in West Bengal, India

The paper was presented to the Group Fellowship Study Tour in the USSR in September-October, 1968 on "Mechanisation of Forest Site Preparation". Mechanisation has been introduced comparatively in recent years for forest site clearance in the northern part of the State. Forest activities have to keep in step with the pace of economic activities in other spheres. With new wood-based industries stepping up their demands, pace of conversion has to be suitably raised. Establishment of forest villages would have meant a substantial forest areas being put out of timber production perpetually, and conventional taungya would only have perpetuated subsistence level of living of the forest labour. Mechanisation offers the following advantages:- (a) timely clearing of large forest areas, as the working season is confined only to eight fairly dry months, (b) creation of job opportunities for more skilled labour, (c) relating the pace of conversion to the requirements of industrial end-users, and (d) increasing effective area for intercrops by clearance of tree stumps. From the details presented in the paper, it would be seen that even after accounting for nature's limitation due to four monsoon months, there is an under-utilisation due to loss in transit time, harrowing operations, etc. Ordinary farm tractors are unable to do the initial harrowing economically. Following limitations are required to be ovcrcome:- (a) time lag for an entirely new skill to be absorbed, (b) introduction of mechanisation in cross-cutting of logs and in haulage and transportation, (c) re-orientation of Working Plans to prescribe concentrated felling areas in a region, in place of small felling series, and (d) introduction of low powered (65-90 h.p.) Crawler tractors for harrowing operations.