Afforestt’s goal is to help people create sustainable gardens in their backyard. But unlike conventional gardens the plant species are selected after doing a soil survey and studying the endemic flora of the region. The density is kept as high as 3 to 5 saplings per square metre. Hence Afforestt’s gardens look more like natural forests, even if they only occupy 1000 square feet of land.
Sharma decided to try his hand at the Miyawaki technique after observing its success in regenerating forests from Thailand to the Amazon. He quickly realised that Afforestt would not work as a charity.
“I realized it can’t be done as a do-gooder activity. If I wanted it to succeed, I had to think it through and come up with a business plan, and a bunch of my friends helped me to set it up,” he says.
“The idea is to bring back the native forests. They are not only self-sustainable after a couple of years but also are maintenance-free. We want to create a scenario where plucking a fruit from a tree in the backyard will be easier than buying it from the market.”
How it works
Afforestt provides end-to-end services that include arrangement of labour, materials, equipment, tools and facilities required to execute an afforestation project using the Miyawaki Method. After the soil and biomass survey, 50 to 100 varieties of native species are planted. The last stage involves watering and weeding the area for next two years, after which the forest takes care of itself.
Sharma designs and formulates in what pattern, sequence and ratio the saplings should be planted for rapid growth. Having started on his own in 2011, he now has a team of six that works from Bangalore. Initial troubles with finding the market were solved to some extent when they received their first order from a German furniture maker to plant about 10,000 trees at Rs 150 per square foot. Since then, Afforestt has served 48 clients and planted 33 forests (over 54,000 trees) across 11 cities in India.
