India’s largest pulp and paper company, BILT, is altering its supply chain, with a growing reliance on farm forestry to supply raw materials. Since the late 1980s, BILT's social farm forestry has affected and benefited nearly 30,000 farmer households, and has greened nearly 40,000 hectares of degraded or marginal land. BILT has now moved to soil-specific clonal management to improve the yields. By the end of 2008, 35 percent of fiber will come from farm forestry programs—all managed sustainably by poor farmers whose incomes have grown as a result of their contracts with the mill. IFC has also provided advisory services in terms of understanding and motivating farmers.
IFC Role:
- $15 million investment
- Support for BILT’s HIV/AIDS awareness program
