TEAK PLANTATIONS IN NILAMBUR - Kerala Forest Research Institute

The above two Tables indicate a decline in productivity in successive periods
in all operations without considering the year of planting. Can this mean a
decline in management effectiveness over time? The data was insufficient to
answer the question either way. But the possibility of such an eventuality
cannot be ruled out. Nevertheless, considering the low levels of productivity
achieved in Nilambur Divisions, it is very essential to give more importance
to efforts for increasing the productivity of teak plantations by enhancing the
quality of management inputs.
It would have been ideal if the productivity level remained stable and closely
related to the site quality of each pltintation as determined from the top
height. In that case, a more refined method of fixing the economically
optimum rotation for each site quality was possible. Table 3.12 showed high
variability between the site quality of plantations and the level of yield
obtained in different operation in selected plantations. Even among the
different operations in the same plantation there was marked variation in
yield. In this situation an exercise in proposing a rotation age based on the
site quality is meaningless.
The primary requirement is to find out the reasons for the low productivity
and the variation in yield levels. It is beyond the scope of this study to address
this problem. Remedial measures will necessarily have to be based on the
causes for the low yields. Manipulation of the rotation age and its associated
change in thinning schedule without a detailed management evaluation will
only complicate matters. Till such a time, the current thinning schedule and
rotation age should best continue unchanged.
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