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Sandalwood farming in India: problems and prospects

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 Indian Journal of Tropical Biodiversity Review Article
© Society for Promotion of Tropical Biodiversity, Jabalpur

SANDALWOOD FARMING IN INDIA: PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS

BABITA MISHRA, SANDEEP CHAKRABORTY, SANDHYA MC AND S VISWANATH*

Institute of Wood Science and Technology, 18th cross Malleswaram, Bangalore-560003
*Corresponding author email: syamviswanath@gmail.com

ABSTRACT: Indian Sandalwood (Santalum album L.) may be considered as one of the world's most valuable commercial
timber and is currently valued globally for its heartwood and oil. Since liberalization of rules regarding sandalwood
growing in 2001 and 2002 there has been tremendous interest among farmers and stakeholders across India in farming
this tree. The hemi-parasitic nature of the tree, its adaptability to grow in semiarid tracts and potential to grow in
combination with horticultural species as secondary hosts makes it a potent agroforestry species. High demand and
remunerative prices of heartwood have motivated farmers/stakeholders to take up sandalwood farming especially in
non-traditional areas in many states across India like Gujarat, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and
Maharashtra since the past decade. The potential of the tree in natural and naturalized forested areas, existing farming
systems and other silvi-horticultural systems across India have been studied by IWST including heartwood and oil
formation using non-destructive methods. The scope of cultivation in current farming systems including economics of
cultivation have been critically analyzed and presented.The current problems and future prospects for increased
livelihood opportunities and enhancing farm income levels also discussed along with suggestion for promoting
sandalwood farming practices across India.
Key words: Santalum album, heartwood, oil content, core samples, sandalwood farming, agroforestry
Citation: Mishra B, Chakraborty S, Sandhya MC, Viswanath S (2018) Sandalwood farming in India: problems and
prospects. Indian J Trop Biodiv 26(1): 1-12

Received on : 11 Jan 2018

Accepted on : 27 Mar 2018
Published on : 30 Jun 2018

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Indian Journal of Tropical Biodiversity, 26(1) 2018

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 Indian Journal of Tropical Biodiversity, 26(1) 2018

Table 1: Sampling locations of sandalwood trees across India.

S. No. State Location S. No. State Location
1. Karnataka Bangalore 8. Maharashtra Nasik
Bangalore Ahmednagar
Chikballapur Pune
Dharwad Osmanabad
2. Kerala Idukki 9. Madhya Pradesh Jabalpur
3. Punjab Birsnour Katni
Hoshiarpur Seoni
4. Orissa Koraput 10. Rajasthan Jodhpur
Kalahandi Udaipur
Raygada Pali
Bhubaneswar Sadri
5. Gujarat Mehsana 11. Andhra Pradesh Hyderabad
Mahua Tirupati
Varodera Chitoor
6. Tamil nadu Vellore 12. Maharashtra Nasik
Salem Pune
7. Assam Diphu Shirdi Latur
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Indian Journal of Tropical Biodiversity, 26(1) 2018

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 Indian Journal of Tropical Biodiversity, 26(1) 2018

Table 2: Variation in growth, oil % and heartwood content of sandalwood plantations with different secondary
hosts sampled across 9 locations in six states
Sl. Location State Age GBH %HW % Oil Secondary No. of trees
No. group Host sampled in
the age group
1 Muddanhalli, Karnataka 9 44.5±10.38 76.85±8.59 0.81±0.25 Phyllanthus 4
Bangalore emblica
rural dt,
2 Bevanhalli, Karnataka 8 44±5.08 64.77±9.3 0.794±0.35 Grafted Mangifera indica 10
Chickballapur
3 Gungargatti, Karnataka 11 48±9.57 62.89±8.66 1.55±0.49 Misc. 7
Dharwad
4 DSG, Katni, Madhya 9 48±6.88 37.07±13.88 1.89±1.96 Phyllanthus 16
Pradesh emblicaT.arjuna
Pongamia pinnata
5 Birsnour, Punjab 20 80±5.74 62.78±17.76 2.32±0.63 Leucaena 5
Patiala leucocephala
6 Mehsana Gujarat 10 54.2±12.74 43.73±20.38 0.64±0.45 Citrus sp 10
7 Mahua Gujarat 59.83±7.94 67.95±6.33 4.07±0.80 Mangifera indica
8 Sadri Rajasthan 9 56.2±10.94 48.20±21.43 0.45±0.35 Azadirachta indica 5
9 Vellore Tamilnadu 17 58.71±7.36 59.09±11.48 3.92±0.38 NA 14

Plate 1: Mature Sandalwood tree (>20 years) sampled in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. A. Katni (Madhya
Pradesh); B. Dumasal (Madhya Pradesh); C. Sadri (Rajasthan); D. Laknadon, Seoni (Madhya Pradesh); E. Seoni
(Madhya Pradesh); F. TFRI Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh); G. CAZRI Jodhpur (Rajasthan), H. Sadri (Rajasthan).

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 Indian Journal of Tropical Biodiversity, 26(1) 2018

Plate 3: Large Sized mature sandelwood trees in Government Compounds and Forest department areas in Orissa
(A,C,O,F) Punjab (E) and Kerala (B)

The farmers in the state of Gujarat have been one of
the most enterprising farmers and have started raising
sandalwood plantations way back in 2006-07 period.
The oldest private plantation of 15 years noticed was in
Bhavnagar, Gujarat with grafted mango as secondary
host. According to Nitin Patel, President, Gujarat
Sandalwood Growers Association, nearly 20,000 ha is
currently under sandalwood cultivation. During a series
of meetings and interactions with farmers in April 2017
across four districts Bhavnagar, Amreli, Ankleshwar and
Himmat Nagar in Gujarat organized by Gujarat
Sandalwood growers Association in association with
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Agriculture and State Forest Dept certain key problems
in sandalwood cultivation have been identified.
• Quality of planting stock used/procured by farmers
is of dubious quality and from largely unknown
sources which may have serious repercussions in
quality of end product at time of selling and disposal.
• Scientific management inputs have been lacking in
initial stages of raising sandalwood. There have
even been instances in Gujarat where farmers have
raised sandalwood plantation without secondary
host which has naturally resulted in poor growth of
mature plantations.
 Indian Journal of Tropical Biodiversity, 26(1) 2018
• In many cases, too close spacing between
sandalwood trees and between sandalwood and
host plant has happened based on faulty advice of
technically incompetent nurserymen/seedling
suppliers which has also resulted in poor growth of
sandalwood growing stock.
• Many pest and disease problems in early stages of
sandalwood plantations have largely gone
undetected or unnoticed by farmers.
Scientific support from research institutions
especially in pest and disease management is vital for
farmers and has largely been lacking for farmers in
Gujarat. Effective outreach and extension programmes
from State Agricultural universities and State forest
department can play a major role in instilling confidence
among sandalwood farmers in Gujarat.
5. Scope for Sandalwood cultivation in agro-
forestry practices
Santalum album is capable of growing in a wide variety
of soils from gravelly loam and sand clay soils. The most
common soil type on which sandal occurs is the red
ferruginous loam with underlying gneiss which has poor
nutrients. It is able to withstand the soil pH up to 9.0 but
unable to grow in waterlogged sites. In India, sandal
distribution occurs throughout the Deccan plateau and
Plate 3: Large scale commercial sandalwood plantations with various secondary hosts across India.A.3 year old
sandalwood with Casuarina in Vadodara, Gujarat; B. 15 year old Sandalwood in Vellore; C. 13 year old sandalwood
with mango in Mahua, Gujarat; D. 7 yr Sandalwood plantation in Mehsana, Gujarat; E. Sandalwood plantations in
Gungargatti, Dharwad, Karnataka Forest Dept
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more than 90 per cent lies in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
The species is capable of growing where rainfall is 500
to even 5000 mm, long dry season duration and
elevation from 0–1800 m.asl. However, the sandalwood
tree can occur even outside this climatic zone and
tolerate extreme temperature from 4 to 46oC. This
plasticity is an added adaptation advantage for
sandalwood when grown under some extreme site
conditions. Sandalwood being a hemi-parasite requires
a primary host, intermediate host as well as a long term
secondary host which gives it tremendous scope in
agroforestry.
With the Karnataka Forest (Amendment) Act 2001
of substitution of Section 83, which recognizes the right
of occupant or land holder to be legally entitled to the
sandal tree in his land, there has been a marked
demand from private entrepreneurs and private farmers
for raising private plantations. High demand of sandal
wood and remunerative prices of sandal heartwood
have motivated private individuals to take up sandal
cultivation on farmlands even though protection issues
are still to be addressed. Farmers have shown an
inclination for horticultural species like Indian
gooseberry (amla), grafted mango, pomegranate,
citrus, sapota, guava, ber, instead of conventional
forestry species as host trees with the objective of
 Indian Journal of Tropical Biodiversity, 26(1) 2018

Plate 4: Large scale sandalwood plantations showing agro-forestry possibilities in Madhya Pradesh. A. Large private
sandalwood plantation in Katni, Madhya Pradesh; B. Sandalwood based agro-forestry with Amla and soybeans; D.
Sandalwood with field beans; D. Growing watermelon in interspaces of plantation (9 years); E. Growing turmeric
successfully in interspaces of 9 year old plantations.

obtaining intermediate returns during the long gestation
of sandalwood. In sandalwood based agro--forestry, a
spacing of 6x3 m with amla at the same spacing in
between sandal in quincuxial design of planting
appears to be promising. This spacing also ensures
cultivation of agricultural crops like horse gram or field
bean or low spreading legume fodder during the initial
years. Currently 5 x4m spacing appears to be more
favored by farmers with host plant planted 2.5m
distance within the sandalwood row and sandalwood
rows separated at 4m distance to promote inter-
cultivation of annual crops like horse gram, pulses etc.
The cost of raising sandal based agroforestry
plantations may be marginally higher than raising
sandal block plantations due to additional intercultural
operations. However this may be more than offset by
periodic additional returns from horticultural crops.
Sandalwood plants in agroforestry practices have been
observed to perform well in terms of growth parameters
possibly due improved soil physico-chemical properties
(Plate 4). However there is a paucity of data on sandal
growth and related heartwood formation under
agroforestry situations. To accommodate higher density
of plants, a spacing of 4x4 m with a long term host like
Casuarina equisetifolia in the center, also at the same
spacing in quincuxial design of planting appears to be
promising.
The total cost of cultivation over the 15 year period
works out to Rs 19.87 lakhs/ha and the total benefits
around Rs 143 lakhs/ha (IWST, 2008). Of the total cost
nearly 30% works out to be protection costs. The
revenue from sandal tree extraction and processing in
15th year works out to Rs 25,000/tree (sapwood, heart
wood and mixed wood including). In the 20th year
Rs 31,400/tree was estimated when the heartwood out
turn from a 15 year old tree was estimated at 3kg/tree
and 4 kg/tree in 2008. (Viswanath et al., 2010).
However, recent estimates in 2017 have put the
heartwood out turn at 15-20kg/tree. An assessment of
viability of different sandal based agroforestry models
viz, sandalwood monoculture plantations and
sandalwood intercropped with another perennial
Emblica officinalis Gaertn (amla) and an annual
Macrotyloma uniflorum (Lam.) Verdc. (horse gram)
using indicators like Net Present Value (NPV), Benefit
Cost (B/C) ratio, Internal Rate of Return (IRR),
Equivalent Annual Income (EAI) at different discount
rates for two different rotation periods (15 and 20 years)
to determine a financially optimal model showed that all
the options were financially viable. Sandalwood block

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 Indian Journal of Tropical Biodiversity, 26(1) 2018

Plate 5: Large scale commercial sandalwood plantations with various secondary hosts across India. A. Sandalwood
with primary host Alternanthera and citrus as secondary host; B. Sandalwood with Casuarina; C. Sandalwood with
red sanders as secondary host; D. Sandalwood with Acacia auriculiformis as secondary host; E. Sandalwood with
Melia dubea as secondary host; F. Sandalwood with red sanders as secondary host; G. Sandalwood with amla as
secondary host.

plantation with 15 years rotation gave the highest NPV
(Rs.2683088 at 10% and Rs.1252693 at 15%), B/C
ratio (4.4 at 10% and 3.3 at 15%), IRR (33%), EAI
(Rs.35, 2756 at 10% and 21, 42312 at 15%) However
for farmers who prefer regular cash flow, the sandal +
amla + horse gram in a 15 rotation is recommended.
(IWST, 2008).When the financial analysis was done by
IWST in 2008, the yield and growth estimations were
based on secondary data and projections were made
based on that. Now however, actual data has started
emerging regarding growth and yield of heartwood in
sandalwood under cultivated conditions. Recently in
2017, KSDL had procured around 75 mature
sandalwood trees (18years age) having a gbh ranging
from 60 to 75cm from a farmland in Nelamangala near
Bangalore. On an average the trees yielded 15kg
heartwood and around 6kg mixed wood and were
valued at Rs 22,000 /tree. KSDL valued the trees after
fixing a rate of Rs 6400/kg heartwood, Rs 2000/kg
mixed wood, Rs 80/kg of sapwood and Rs 30/kg bark &
chips (KSDL, pers.comm).
6. Challenges of Sandalwood farming in India
To counter challenges in physical protection of mature
trees (from 10th year onwards) from theft, farmers have
to invest in securing the plantation by investing in
tamper proof boundary walls, engaging security staff for
patrolling along with trained dogs especially in large
scale plantation areas. Remote surveillance systems
similar to home security systems are being
implemented by companies like Hitachi India Pvt Ltd in
recent times. However these are still in the R&D phase
and have not been fully commercialized as yet. Due to
the long gestation period of sandalwood (15-20years)
under farming situations, the main challenge is to
generate a sustained income during the period to meet
the cost of protection and maintenance. The opportunity
in sandalwood agro-forestry is to introduce horticulture
species as secondary host along with short term

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 Indian Journal of Tropical Biodiversity, 26(1) 2018

Plate 6: Scattered sandalwood plantations of state forest departments have problems regarding maintenance and
security. A. 20 year plantation Punjab Forest Dept., Patiala, Punjab; B. 20 year old trees at TFRI, Jabalpur, MP; C. 13
year old Sandalwood plantation in Biodiversity park in Karbi Anglong of Assam Forest Department; D. Some 13 year
old trees in Seoni, Madhya Pradesh Forest department

primary hosts and annual intercrops whenever and
wherever possible. Horticulture crops like
pomegranate, guava, citrus, Syzigium cumini (Jamun),
grafted mango, grafted Indian gooseberry (amla),
custard apple (sitaphal) have been tried out by farmers
across India with varying degrees of success. However
there is no standard package of practices available on
horticulture crops depending on soil, climate and
market. ICAR institutions engaged in agroforestry
research in semiarid areas like CAFRI, Jhansi, CRIDA,
and Hyderabad should set up sandalwood based
agroforestry demonstration plots with horticulture
species as secondary hosts for demonstration to
farmers incor-porating latest scientific technologies and
R&D inputs. This will perhaps go a long way to promote
sandalwood in combination with horticulture in the
country.
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7. Suggestions to promote sandalwood based
agroforestry across India
Since the challenges faced in sandalwood farming
are huge while meeting the expectations of the farming
community, only a concerted effort can help in solving
some of the technical and management problems faced
by farmers and other stakeholders. If some precautions
are taken by farmers while procuring planting stock and
also while maintaining sandalwood plantations in field
the quality of the output can be ensured and also
quantity can be enhanced. Some suggested steps to
promote sandalwood cultivation are outlined below
• Only Quality planting material (QPM) stock where
seed source is known should be procured by farmers for
planting purposes.
 Indian Journal of Tropical Biodiversity, 26(1) 2018
• Sandalwood plants procured should be raised only
by certified and accredited nurseries. The certification
agency could be the various institutes of ICFRE/state
Forest departments/public sector undertakings like
KSDL Karnataka.
• Scientific management inputs should be adhered to
in initial stages of raising sandalwood like spacing,
host management, intercropping, pruning of
sandalwood trees, fertilization, drip irrigation and
pest management. There is 5 day training
programme on sandalwood being conducted at
Institute of Wood science and Technology (IWST),
Bangalore twice a year which can be accessed in the
website (http://iwst.icfre.gov.in/). Prospective
farmers and nursery men can register for the training
and get scientific and practical inputs on
sandalwood cultivation.
• Currently there are innumerable half-baked
nurserymen turned 'consultants' masquerading as
sandalwood experts. Prospective sandalwood
farmers should be able to sift the grains from the
chaff and not fall prey to them. It is always better to
enter into an MOU with Govt. agencies like IWST,
KSDL etc for continued support in plantation
programmes.
• Protection of growing sandalwood trees has become
a major constraint for farmers. Protection of trees
requires an investment cost equivalent to 30 % of the
expected revenue. Rather than relying on physical
protection of trees, farmers could explore the
possibilities of installing remote surveillance and
protection systems that is available and being
offered by companies like Hitachi India Pvt Ltd.
• Rules and regulations regarding procurement of
sandalwood from farmers by private entities need to
be explored for enhancing profits to cultivator.
Currently a monopsony situation exists where there
is only a single buyer in the market which is the
Forest Dept or Govt undertakings. Markets need to
be liberalized further which will fall under the ambit of
policy and governance.
• Currently there are no schemes by commercial
financial institutions on sandalwood tree insurance.
It is desirable that nationalized banks come forward
with finance schemes for sandalwood cultivation.
Insurance companies should also float schemes on
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tree insurance like in the case of horticulture crops.
Currently some State Medical Plant Boards are
encouraging sandalwood cultivation by offering
subsidy schemes which is an added incentive.
CONCLUSION
Commercial cultivation of sandalwood has been
gaining impetus in India since liberalization of rules
regarding sandalwood cultivation in 2001 and 2002 in
traditional sandalwood growing states of Karnataka and
Tamil Nadu. Initially sandalwood farming took off in a big
way in non-traditional sandalwood areas in states like
Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh. In recent
times there has been a spurt in sandalwood farming in
states like Maharashtra, Telengana, and Andhra
Pradesh. Among the south Indian states cultivation has
picked up in Northern Karnataka and drier tracts of
Tamil Nadu while Kerala is nowhere in the picture
despite the last remaining vestige of natural
sandalwood forest reserve being located in Maryoor,
Kerala. Survey on sandalwood plantations raised in
private lands and forest lands in Northern, Central,
Eastern and Western parts of the country have showed
that heartwood initiation happens generally between 6-
9 years of age and the rate of heartwood formation and
oil content per cent does not vary much when compared
to sandalwood growing in traditional growing areas.
Sandalwood farming especially sandalwood based
agro-forestry practices has immense potential in terms
of revenue generation and optimal utilization of land and
resources. Available information suggests this may
indeed be the way forward provided quality planting
stock is made available, sound scientific silvicultural
and management principles followed and smart e-
protection of trees practiced.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors are thankful for the support extended by
Director, IWST, and Bangalore for carrying out this
work. Financial support by way of research grant from
National Medicinal Plant Board (NMPB), Govt. of India
is gratefully acknowledged.
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