Miyawaki forest zone dedicated by Rotarians to Madura College

MADURAI

The Miyawaki forest raised by Rotary Club of Madurai West at Madura College in Madurai was dedicated to students and researchers here on Friday.

Project Chairman M. S. Sundaravel said that in June last, they started work on creating this dense forest with 110 varieties of plants on one acre of land inside Madura College at a cost of around ₹15 lakh.

The “green lung” of Madurai city houses around 5,500 plants of different types like flowering, fruiting, foliage were planted here with a gap of 3 metre between each plant.

The trees were raised in the Miyawaki method, a technique of raising dense forests, named after Japanese botanist and plant ecologist Akira Miyawaki. In this method, plant growth is fast and foliage denser.

Rotary Club of Madurai West sourced the saplings, planted and nurtured them over nine months before they handed them over to Madura College.

The plants are watered through drip irrigation, and a trench of 2 metre has been dug out around the circumference of the area to collect excess water during rains.

“Such forests will increase biodiversity and bio-activity,” he said. We can already spot peafowls, mynahs, parrots, patridges, butterflies, mongoose etc. In a few years, each fruit-bearing tree will attract different bird species, he added.