Saving poniki trees to promote Nirmal toys
The saplings brought from Uttarakhand are growing in the protected area under the close watch of officials,giving hopes that the district toys industry will stay afloat due to availability of woods from ponki trees
Nirmal: The wooden toys, crafted from the Poniki trees found in the forests of erstwhile Adilabad are renowned worldwide. However, in recent years the dwindling availability of Poniki trees has impacted the production of these toys.
To revive the supply of Poniki wood officials from the Forest and Rural Development departments made several efforts. Seeds were brought from Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu but they failed to sprout in the local soil.
To ensure the survival of the Nirmal toy industry which supports the livelihoods of 40 artisan families and has global recognition, Nirmal DRDO officer Vijayalakshmi took a special initiative. She regularly consulted forest and horticulture officials to find ways to grow Poniki trees.
Eventually, they discovered that Poniki trees were available in Uttarakhand. Two years ago they procured 5,000 saplings from there. Of these, 2,000 were planted in Sarangapur mandal in the Mahbubghat region. Unfortunately due to rocky soil and monkey menace, none of the saplings survived.
The remaining 3,000 saplings were planted in protected areas near Lingapur village in Mamda mandal specifically in the village nature park and forest land near Jagadayitanda. These saplings were carefully guarded and nurtured.
As a result, nearly 90% of the saplings are growing well. Within the next four to five year these will mature into full-grown Poniki trees ensuring uninterrupted production of Nirmal wooden toys, according to officials and artisans.
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