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Rice contributes 95% of the total food grain production in Assam and is cultivated in three main seasons, viz. Ahu (February/March to June/July month), Sali (June/July to November/December month) and Boro (November/December to April/May month).
Of these three seasons, Sali occupies more area, which is flood prone. More than 23 districts suffers from flood chronically, which affects the productivity of rice severely and limit the total production.
To develop suitable high yielding varieties and production technology, specially for flood prone lowlands of Assam, Assam govt had requested the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi to consider establishing a sub-station of National Rice Research Institute (NRRI) in Assam to assist the state’s efforts on rice research.
The Regional Rain-fed Lowland Rice Research Station (RRLRRS) is a sub-station under ICAR-NRRI, established on September 15, 1997 at Gerua in the Hajo circle of the Kamrup district of Assam, upon request of the Assma Govt to consider establishing a sub-station of National Rice Research Institute (NRRI) in the state to assist it’s efforts on rice research, as NRRI plays a pivotal role in rice research of the country.
Main mandates of the ICAR-RRLRRS are
To conduct basic, strategic, applied and adaptive research on crop improvement, production and protection for increasing and stabilizing rice productivity in rainfed lowland ecosystem.
To explore, evaluate, conserve and exchange rice germplasm.
To develop high yielding and input responsive rice varieties resistant/tolerant to different biotic and abiotic stresses under rainfed lowland ecosystem.
To generate appropriate agronomic and protection technologies for increasing and sustaining the productivity of rice-based production systems under rainfed lowland ecosystem.
To import training to the farmers, field functionaries, extension specialists and research workers on improved rice production cropping and farming systems.
Trust Area of Research
Strengthening the breeding strategy to evolve suitable Sali varieties with tolerant to flood.
Development of short duration varieties with blast resistance and cold tolerance for Boro season.
Development of flood resistant rice varieties for lowland, semi-deep and deep water conditions.
Development of appropriate integrated insect pest and disease management strategies.
Salient Achievements
Released rice variety ‘Chandrama’ as Boro and Sali for Assam.
Released aromatic high yielding rice variety ‘CR Dhan 909’ as Sali crop for Assam, Bihar, Maharashtra and UP for irrigated and rainfed lowland ecology.
Rice varieties ‘Naveen’ have been identified suitable as pre-flood Ahu crop and ‘Abhishek’ as post-flood Sali rice crop.
Continual maintenance of over 830 Eastern Indian rice germplasm.
Use of pheromone traps @ 20/ha recorded the lowest incidence of dead heart (3.45%) and white ear head (2.01%).
The Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Prakash Javadekar released the biennial, India State of Forest Report (ISFR). The report is published by the Forest Survey of India (FSI) which has been mandated to assess the forest and tree resources of the country including wall-to-wall forest cover mapping in a biennial cycle. Starting 1987, 16 assessments have been completed so far. ISFR 2019 is the 16threport in the series.India is among few countries in the world where forest cover is consistently increasing.
Major Highlights
The total forest cover of the country is 7,12,249 sq km which is 21.67% of the geographical area of the country.
The tree cover of the country is estimated as 95,027 sq km which is 2.89% of the geographical area.
The total Forest and Tree cover of the country is 8,07,276 sq km which is 24.56% of the geographical area of the country.
The current assessment shows an increase of 3,976 sq km (0.56%) of forest cover, 1,212 sq km(1.29%) of tree cover and 5,188 sq km (0.65%) of forest and tree cover put together, at the national level as compared to the previous assessment i.e. ISFR 2017.
TOP 5 States in terms of increase in forest cover:
Karnataka (1,025 sq km)
Andhra Pradesh (990 sq km)
Kerala (823 sq km)
Jammu & Kashmir (371 sq km)
Himachal Pradesh(334 sq km)
Forest cover in the hill districts of the country is 2,84,006 sq km, which is 40.30% of the total geographical area of these districts. The current assessment shows an increase of 544 sq km(0.19%) in 140 hill districts of the country.
The total forest cover in the tribal districts is 4,22,351 sq km, which is 37.54% of the geographical area of these districts. The current assessment shows a decrease of 741 sq km of forest cover within the RFA/GW in the tribal districts and an increase of 1,922 sq km outside.
Mangrove cover in the country has increased by 54 sq km (1.10%) as compared to the previous assessment.
The total growing stock of wood in the country is estimated 5,915.76 million cum comprising 4,273.47 million cum inside forest areas and 1,642.29 million cum outside recorded forest areas (TOF). The average growing stock per hectare in forest has been estimated as 55.69 cum.
Total bamboo bearing area of the country is estimated as 1,60,037 sq km. There is an increase of 3,229 sq km in bamboo bearing area as compared to the estimate of ISFR 2017.
Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) represents the largest pool of carbon stock in forests, which has been estimated 4,004 million tonnes. The SOC contributes 56% to the total forest carbon stock of the country.
There are 62,466 wetlands covering 3.83% of the area within the RFA/GW of the country. The total number of wetlands located within the RFA/GW is 8.13%.
Amongst the States, Gujarat has largest area of wetlands within RFA in the country followed by West Bengal.
Dependence of fuelwood on forests is highest in the State of Maharashtra, whereas, for fodder,small timber and bamboo, dependence is highest in Madhya Pradesh. It has been assessed that the annual removal of the small timber by the people living in forest fringe villages is nearly 7% of the average annual yield of forests in the country.
TOP 5 States with largest forest cover (Area-wise)
Madhya Pradesh
Arunachal Pradesh
Chhattisgarh
Odisha
Maharashtra.
TOP 5 States in terms of forest cover as a percentage of total geographical area
Mizoram (85.41%)
Arunachal Pradesh (79.63%)
Meghalaya (76.33%)
Manipur (75.46%)
Nagaland (75.31%)
Total Mangrove cover in the country is 4,975 sq km. An increase of 54 sq Km in mangrove cover has been observed as compared to the previous assessment of 2017.
Top three states showing mangrove cover increase are Gujarat (37 sq km) followed by Maharashtra (16 sq km) and Odisha (8 sq km).
The total growing stock of India’s forest and TOF is estimated 5,915.76 million cum of which 4,273.47 million cum is inside the forests and 1,642.29 million cum outside. There is an increase of 93.38 million cum of total growing stock, as compared to the previous assessment.
The extent of bamboo bearing area of the country has been estimated 16.00 million hectare. There is an increase of 0.32 million hectare in bamboo bearing area as compared to the last assessment of ISFR 2017. The total estimated green weight of bamboo culms is 278 million tonnes, slowly an increase of 88 million tonnes as compared to ISFR 2017.
Total carbon stock in country’s forest is estimated 7,124.6 million tonnes and there an increase of 42.6 million tonnes in the carbon stock of country as compared to the last assessment of 2017. The annual increase in the carbon stock is 21.3 million tonnes, which is 78.2 million tonnes CO2 eq.
FACTFILE - India State of Forest Report (ISFR)
The biannual report is prepared by The Forest Survey of India (FSI), a body under MoEFCC, which conducts surveys and assessment of forest resources in the country.
The information given in the report will serve as an important tool to monitor the country’s forest resources and plan suitable scientific and policy interventions for its management. It will also serve as a useful source of information for the policy makers, planners, State Forest Departments, line agencies involved in various developmental works, academicians, civil society and others interested in natural resource conservation and management.
The India State of Forest Report 2019 is 16th such report in the series. In line with the Government of India’s vision of Digital India and the consequent need for integration of digital data sets, the Forest Survey of India has adopted the vector boundary layers of various administrative units upto districts developed by Survey of India along with digital open series topo sheets, bringing about full compatibility with the geographical areas as reported in Census, 2011.
Forests play a vital role in water conservation and improve the water regime in the area. Considering the importance of water bodies in forest, FSI has assessed water bodies in forest cover for the decade 2005-2015. As per the assessment, there is an increase of 2,647 sq km in the extent of water bodies inside forest cover between 2005 to 2015.
The report contains information on forest cover, tree cover, mangrove cover, growing stock inside and outside the forest areas, carbon stock in India’s forests and forest cover in different patch size classes. Special thematic information on forest cover such as hill, tribal districts, and north eastern region has also been given separately in the report. The report for the first time contains information on decadal change in water bodies in forest during 2005-2015, forest fire, production of timber from outside forest, state wise carbon stock in different forest types and density classes.
Forest Survey of India (FSI) has been assessing the forest and tree resources of our country on a biennial basis since 1987. The results of the assessment are published in its biennial report titled “India State of Forest Report (ISFR)”.
India is the second largest producer of tea in the world, only after China. Most of the tea produced in India comes from North East India, especially Assam and Tripura. The Assam tea industry accounts for more than 50% of India’s total tea production. There are 848 registered tea estates in Assam.
Assam is the only region other than China which can boast of its own variety of native tea plant, Camellia sinensis assamica. Most of the tea plantations in Assam are situated at a near sea level height. and the whole area is endowed with a plenty of rainfall. The unique tropical climate of Assam imparts a special distinctive malty flavor, with a very strong body and bright color.
Robert Bruce in 1823 discovered tea plants growing wild in upper Brahmaputra Valley. A tea garden was started by the Government in 1833 in the then Lakhimpur district. The commercial circle of London took a keen interest in tea plantations in Assam and a company named as Assam Company was formed in 1839 to take over the holdings of the East India Company’s Administration over the tea gardens in Assam. This was the first company in India to undertake the commercial production of tea. Nazira was headquarters of this company until it was shifted to Calcutta in 1965.
The second important tea company, the Jorhat Tea Company was formed in 1859. To encourage tea plantation, the Government also made liberal provisions for the settlement of the waste land for tea cultivation.
In 1911, world’s first institute dedicated to tea research, the Toklai Research Station was established near Jorhat to carrying on research on cultivation and manufacture of tea. This facility has been very useful in disseminating knowledge for the increase of yield for the industry. The industry faced an acute crisis in 1930s, which was successfully averted by enacting the Indian Tea Control Act,1933, and instituting an International Tea Committee and Indian Tea Licensing Committee.
Marketing of tea has always been a problem for the products of this region, as previously the Tea Auction Centre at Calcutta was the only centre of sale for Assam Tea. The imposition of West Bengal Entry Tax on Assam Tea, transport bottlenecks and many more difficulties involved in arranging the sale at Calcutta Auction centre, necessitated the opening of the Tea Auction Centre in Assam. The Tea Auction Centre at Guwahati was opened on 25th Sept.1970, which started a new era for the tea industry of Assam.
From the very beginning of tea plantation in Assam, the planters have faced great difficulties in securing the necessary labour force. The experiment with immigrant Chinese labour in the early days proved a complete failure due to the high cost of requirement and maintenance and to the difficulties in their management. Local labourers were not available in sufficient number. It thus became necessary to bring labourers from other parts of India in large number to meet the labour demand due to expansion of the tea plantations in Assam. As a result of continuous inflow of immigrant labourers, tea garden communities now forms substantial share of Assam’s population.
In present time, the Assam Tea has a global reputation and commands significant share in the world Tea Market. Assam’s total area under tea cultivation accounts for more than half of the country’s total area under tea. Assam produces about 630- 700 million kg of tea, which is more than half of India’s tea production.
India produced around 1,279 million kg in 2017 and it consumes 70% of the produce. As a result, it has very little amount of surplus tea left for export and thus India ranks fourth in the list of tea exporters. Some of the well-known regional brand varieties India produces are the Assam, Darjeeling, Nilgiri, Dooars, Kangra etc.
Longitudes & latitudes, Equator, Latitudes and Earth speed = 15° an hour
Tropic of Cancer & Tropic of Capricorn 23½° North & Southern Hemisphere, Arctic Circle & Antarctic Circle 66½° North & South of the equator, Timezones and Dateline, Prime Meridian
Indian standard time
Assam & NE – Rivers, mountains, NP/WS
Caves in North East India – Meghalaya – KremLiatPrah, Meghalaya
Assam is one of the lands comprising of the seven sisters. Blessed richly with diverse flora and fauna. Geographically made up of The Eastern Hills of The Northern Himalayas and The Brahmaputra Plains, Assam has copious forests. With the tropical monsoon rainfall type of climate Assam is one of the greenest states of the country. Because of its profuse forests Assam witnesses ample of rare species that seek shelter in the greens of the nature. Assam’s rich biodiversity has an enormous wildlife of flora and fauna, that draws a lot of wildlife lovers to this state.
Assam has seven national parks, viz. Kaziranga National Park, Manas National park, Orang National Park, Dibru-Saikhowa National Park, Nameri National Park, Dihing Patkai National Park and Raimona National Park. These protected area of Assam considered as one of the important wildlife areas for the protection of primate diversity and flora and fauna.
Kaziranga National Park
This famous national park of Assam is situated in the Golaghat and Nagaon districts of the state of Assam, India. It is located on the banks of the Brahamputra River. Covering an area of approximately 430 sq. kms is recognized as an Important Bird Area of the world.
The Kaziranga Park is one of the oldest National parks in Assam, being declared as National Park in 1974. Kaziranga was originally established as a reserved forest in 1908. Later, it was converted in to a game sanctury till 1938. A forest conservationist, P. D. Stracey renamed this sanctury to Kaziranga Wildlife Sanctuary in 1950.
Kaziranga was declared as World Heritage Site by UNESCO for its quality natural environment. In 2006 it is also declared as Tiger Reserve.
Kaziranga National Park is home to world’s great one-horned rhinoceroses with total population of 2401. Intersected by four major rivers the forest land shows multiple areas with different characteristics and hence housing some of the rarest species of both flora and fauna. Apart from the rhinos the Asian Elephants also find their shelter in the grasslands of Kaziranga National Park. The other inhabitants of the park are wild boars, barasingha (swamp deer), monitor lizards, Indian bison, Swamp deer, Samber, Hog deer, Sloth Bear, Tiger, Leopard, Leopard cat,Jungle cat, hog badger, Capped langur, Hoolock gibbon, Jackal, Goose, Hornbills, lbis, Cormorants, Egret, Heron Fishing Eagle etc. Kaziranga is also known for its vibrant bird life. Birds including Fishing Eagle, Oriental Honey Buzzard, Himalayan Griffon and White-tailed Eagle are easily spotted in the area.
9 of the 14 primate species found in India occur in the Kaziranga National Park as well as the only ape found in India, the hoolock gibbon.
The landscape of Kaziranga is of sheer forest, tall elephant grass, rugged reeds, marshes & shallow pools. This park is very famous for its wild life inhabitation including many species of rhinoceroses, as well as many animals, including elephant, and numerous bird species. Kaziranga is one of the largest Protected Areas in India and one of the most significant conserved forest areas on the earth.
In addition to numerous species of resident birds it serves as the winter visiting ground to many migratory birds. So, the park has also been identified as an Important Bird Area (IBA). Today, Kaziranga is one of the richest, most picturesque wildlife habitats of southern Asia.
Manas National Park
Manas National Park is a national park, UNESCO Natural World Heritage site, a Project Tiger reserve, an elephant reserve and a biosphere reserve. The park area falls in Assam’s five districts viz. Kokrajhar, Chirang, Baksa, Barpeta, Udalguri and Darrang, on the foothills of the Himalayas and it is contiguous with the Royal Manas National Park in Bhutan.
It is spread over an area of 391 square kilometers in Assam. Occupying a large area the park is home to an ample of flora and fauna. With the typical tropical monsoon rainfall type of climate the national park houses more than twenty five species that are endangered world-wide. Animals like Wild Water Buffaloes, Assam Roofed Turtle, Golden Langoor and Hispid Hare can also be seen along with the rare Pygmy Hog.
The Manas National Park was declared a sanctuary on 1 October 1928 with an area of 360 km2. Manas bioreserve was created in 1973. It was declared a national park in 1980. It was declared a World Heritage site in December 1985 by UNESCO. On 25 February 2008 the area was increased to 950 km2. On 21 June 2011, it was removed from the List of World Heritage in Danger and was commended for its efforts in preservation. in 1973 it got its designation as a Tiger Reserve and it’s the only tiger project of Assam.
The name of the park is derives from the Manas River, which is named after the serpent god Manasa. The Manas River is a major tributary of Brahmaputra River, which passes through the heart of the national park.
Manas known for its Project Tigers, Rhinos & Elephants, and is Assam’s one of the two Tiger projects. The sanctuary is home to a great variety of wildlife, including tiger, Golden Langur, Wild Buffalo, Hispid Hare, Pigmy Hog, Capped Langur, Indian one-horned Rhinoceros, Elephant, Gaur, Hog Deer, etc. The Manas Wildlife National Park is home to more than 450 species of birds also.
374 species of major flora are recorded from the park includes Melastoma malbathricum, Oroxylum indicum, Toona ciliata, Trewia nodiflora, Sterculia villosa, Bischofia javanica, Pouzolzia zeylanica, Syzygium formosum, Terminalia bellarica, Zingibar zecumber, Bauhinia sps., Bombax ceiba, Careya arborea, Chukrasia tabularis etc.
The main types of forests are Sub-Himalayan High Alluvial Semi-Evergreen Forests, East Himalayan Moist Mixed Deciduous Forests, Low Alluvial Savana Woodland ,Assam Valley Semi-Evergreen Alluvial Grasslands .
Dibru Saikhowa National Park
Dibru-Saikhowa National Park is one of the largest park of Assam, is situated in the south bank of the river Brahmaputra in the extreme east of Assam state in India. It is a National Park as well as a Biosphere Reserve having an area of 340 sq. kms in Tinsukia district. This national park is a home to some of the rare creatures.
Dibru Saikhowa National Park area lies in the Indo-Burma Global Biodiversity Hotspot ( one of the 19 biodiversity hotspots in the world). It’s fauna diversity comprises of semi wet evergreen forests, tropical moist deciduous forest, swamp forests, bamboo, cane brakes and grasslands.
The national park consists of a total of 36 species which include Hog Deer, Gangetic Dolphin, Royal Bengal Tiger, Jungle Cat, Asaiatic Water Buffalo, Capped Langur, Small Indian Civet, barking Deer, Slow Loris, Clouded Leopard, Asian Elephant, Chinese Pangolin, Malayan Giant Squirrel, etc. Semi-wild horse. It witnesses over 500 species of birds, both migratory and local. Species like white-winged duck, marsh babbler, white rumped vulture that are close to extinction seek refuge in this park. White winged Wood- Duck and Black-breasted Parrotbill Feral Horses are species of wild life which makes Dibru Saikhowa very famous. The National Park also conserve the White-Winged Wood Duck which are very rare.
This area was called as the Dibru Reserve Forest in the year 1890 and in the year 1920 some additional areas were also added to this Dibru Reserve Forest. The in the year 1929 the Dibru Reserve Forest was named as Saikhowa Reserve Forest. In the year 1995 this Saikhowa Reserve Forest was declared as a Wildlife Sanctuary. It was designated a Biosphere Reserve in July 1997. In the year 1999 this Wildlife Sanctuary was again declared as a National Park.
NOTE – White-Winged Wood Duck is the state bird of Assam state
Nameri National Park
Sharing its boundary with Arunachal Pradesh and therefore merging with the Pakhui Wildlife Sanctuary, Nameri National Park is built up on an area of approximately 200 sq km.
The Park situated in the District of Sonitpur of Assam, is also an Elephant reserve. Animals like tiger, Himalayan Black Bear, Wild Boar and Indian Giant Squirrel are its common inhabitants. Birds like Ibis bill, Wreathed horn bill, black stork and Rufous necked hornbill find home here. The National Park also houses the orchids that make it rich in its flora as well.
The park is the second Tiger reserve of Assam. It was established as a sanctuary on 18th September 1985 and was officially declared as a National Park on 15th November, 1998. It is counted amongst the richest and most threatened reservoirs of plant and animal life in the world.
Nameri is a haven for many rare animals. The rich wildlife includes Tiger, Black bear, elephant, Leopard, Clouded Leopard, Indian Bison, Pangolin, Indian wild dog, deer, Civet Cat, Capped Langur, Jackals etc.Various species of birds such as the endangered white winged wood duck, four species of Hornbill, butterflies and reptiles are also found here.
Together the Nameri National Park in Assam and the Pakhui wildlife sanctuary in Arunachal pradhesh cover up a vast area of more or less 1000 square kilometres. This deciduous and moist jungle of bamboo brakes, canes and narrow grass strips along river banks is the ideal habitation for animals like elephants, tigers and a wide range of migratory birds.
Orang National Park
Orange National Park is situated in the Darrang and Sonitpur districts of Assam. Being comparatively small, the park is spread in about 78 sq km. Orang National Park has a strong hold of one-horned rhinos in the region.
The uniqueness of the park lies in the fact that it houses more than 50 species of fishes. This park is oldest game reserve of the State and an important breeding ground for varieties of Fishes. The animals found in this sanctuary are the One-horned Rhinoceros, Leopard, Elephant, Sambar, Barking Deer, Tiger, varieties of water birds, Green Pigeon, Florican, Teal , Goose, Otters, hog deer, Indian civet, Rhesus macaque, Bengal porcupine, Indian pangolin, Indian fox etc. Various species of birds such as the Pelican, Cormorant, Greylag Goose, Large Whistling Tea Great Adjutant Stork, King Vulture etc. have also found this sanctuary to be their ideal habitat.
It is also known as the mini Kaziranga National Park because of similar landscape, streams and grassland. The Park was established as a sanctuary in 1985 and declared a National Park on 13th of April 1999.
6. Dihing Patkai National Park
234 sq. km stretch covering Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts of Upper Assam. considered the “last remaining stretches” of the Assam Valley tropical wet evergreen forests. It is a major elephant habitat and Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary was declared as Dehing Patkai Elephant Reserve under Project Elephant.
It has recorded 310 species of butterflies. 47 mammal species including tigers and clouded leopards. 47 reptile species and 310 species of butterflies have been recorded in Dihing Patkai. It also has highest concentration of Rare endangered white winged wood duck.
It was declared a wildlife sanctuary on 13 June 2004. On 9 June 2021 Forest Department of Assam officially notified it as a National Park.
7. Raimona National Park
Located in Kokrajhar district of the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR) in lower Assam Raimona National Park spread across 422 sq km. Phipsoo wildlife sanctuary in Bhutan to its north, Buxa tiger reserve in West Bengal to its west and Manas national park in Assam to its east. It is home to elephants, tigers, golden langurs, clouded leopard, wild buffalo, spotted deer, over 150 species of butterflies, 170 species of birds including the white bellied heron and nearly 380 species of plants.
On 09th June, 2021; it became as National Park. It is a part of a contiguous forest patch with an area of 422 km2 covering the northern part of the notified Ripu Reserve Forest, which forms the westernmost buffer to Manas Tiger Reserve in the foothills of Eastern Himalaya Biodiversity Hotspot. It is also part of Chirang-Ripu Elephant Reserve.
