Forest dept trains Soligas to turn lantana into furniture

Mysuru: The forest department is now training Soliga tribe members living in the BRT Tiger Reserve to make different types of furniture using Lantana camara, a forest weed. The weed, which was uprooted by the forest department, had threatened forest cover in the reserve.
The department had selected 45 tribal members including women to be trained to produce dustbins, cloth boxes, baskets, bookshelves, sofa sets, tables, footwear stands and flower baskets using the weed.
Lantana, one of the world’s 10 worst invasive species, now occupies 40% of the tiger habitat reserve, causing concern for the forest department.
This plant competes with native plants for space and resources, and also alters the nutrient cycle in the soil. This invasion has resulted in scarcity of native forage plants for wild herbivores. In some cases, extensive feeding on lantana has led to diarrhoea, liver failure, and even death. Excessive growth of these weeds also results in forest fires during summer, officials said.
The department initiated a major drive not only for removal of these weeds that has spread over 20,000 hectares in a phased manner but also create employment opportunities for local tribes for their sustenance, said sources.
The forest department had granted a tender to a non-government organization for the removal of these weeds in the forest area. Training to produce furniture was already started at Bellata, a forest fringe tribal dominated hamlet in the reserve forest of Chamarajanagar taluk.
The department hired handicraft expert named Papanna to impart training.
The lantana cane which are uprooted by the NGO are bundled, boiled and their bark is removed before being turned into furniture, said sources. Deputy conservator of forests Santosh Kumar told TOI that removal of this weed, besides training the tribals of Bellata hamlet to make furniture out was started during his tenure before his transfer to MM Hills Wildlife Sanctuary.
He said the training not only helps provide jobs to local tribals who also get daily incentives from the forest department as well as a share in profit earned by selling the furniture. “The furniture will be marketed through Tribal Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (TRIFED), big shopping malls of Bengaluru and other metropolitan cities,” he added.
“As this invasive species threatens the forest area, the department must extend such training to locals at all tribal hamlets of the reserve forest as such measures not only help towards the eradication of this weed as well as enhance the income of local people,” C Mahadeva, Chamarajanagar Soliga Tribal Welfare Association general secretary told TOI.