Concerned over an alarming decline in Punjab's forest cover, the state government has decided to give a big push to agro-forestry by distributing 10 lakh seedlings of fast-growing and economically viable tree species.

Currently, the forest cover in Punjab is barely 3.14 per cent of its geographical area and is the lowest in the country-lower than even the desert state of Rajasthan with 4.62 per cent of its area under forest, according to the latest report of the Forest Survey of India.

The dense forest cover in Punjab has decreased by a whopping 80,600 hectares since 2001. The worst affected districts in terms of forest cover depletion are Ferozpur( 111 per cent), Amritsar( 106 per cent), Hoshiarpur( 84 per cent), Bhatinda ( 76 per cent) and Ludhiana ( 55 per cent).

In a move to replenish the thinned out forests, the Forest department has worked out a comprehensive plan to raise the forest cover to 15 per cent by the year 2011. "We will be adopting a new scientific clonal technology for mass production of seedlings required for the agro-forestry operations," says the State Forest Minister Tikshan Sud.

A series of high-technology mist chambers have been established at Hoshairpur, Gurdaspur, Amrtisar, Ropar Moga, Phillour and Bathinda to produce quality seedlings for distribution to the farmers at subsidized rates, and also for department-led plantation drives.

The Forest department has evolved a new agro-forestry model that allows a combination of crops along with trees. With a high productivity through clonal plantations, Punjab would have surplus wood to attract mega wood-based industries such as paper, pulp and plywood.