Plantation Made Easy

Plantation Made Easy – a mobile application focus on making easier choice of tree species for plantation. It provides a variety of options to farmers, home gardeners, industries and individuals to choose the right tree species for their requirement. The main objective of this application is to guide the user about the plantation technique and post plantation care. This application also widens the choice of tree species and helps to look at the opportunities of other forestry species in plantations. The purpose of developing this mobile application is to bring different tree species and their plantation technique under one platform.

Selection of right tree species is very important. The factors behind the right selection are Choice of the farmer - Soil type, Climate, Rainfall, Terrain, Tree type/ Tree value. Plantation Made Easy – considers all these factors and helps the farmer to select the most suitable tree species which will meet all the above

conditions. This will ensure the healthy growth of the tree species and will protect the farmer from incurring heavy losses.

Plantation Made Easy – a mobile application, not only helps the farmer in deciding the right tree species, but also guides them throughout its plantation. The parameters that are crucial for any plantation are as follows,

a. Choosing the correct planting material

b. Selection of the right time to plant a tree

c. Selection of the right place for tree plantation

d. Preparing a pit of right size for the planting material

e. Choosing adequate spacing for plantation

f. Immediate care soon after planting

g. Post plantation care which includes, weeding, cleaning, pruning, thinning – to improve the quality and the health of the trees

h. Recommended harvest year

i. Suitable Intercropping systems

Plantation Made Easy – has provided all these information handy to the user, under the tree details of all the 43 tree species. These information are provided under the Tree details section for each tree.

This application has four routes to direct the user to the most suitable tree for his plantation. Those are,

1. Choose by Tree Species

2. Choose by Tree Type

3. Choose by Location

4. Search by Query

Choose by tree species directly takes the user to the list of 43 tree species. The user can click on the tree he desires, to know about the details on plantation technique.

Choose by Tree Type, has eight different tree types -

1. Timber Trees

2. Pulpwood Trees

3. Matchwood Trees

4. Fire wood, Fuel wood and Fodder Trees

5. Other Beneficial Trees (NTFP)

6. Bio fuel Species

7. Pencil wood / Plywood Trees

8. Industrial / Institutional Plantation Trees

Trees are classified based on their value and the user can get to know the details about the tree he desires.

Choose by Location is a menu item available in the menu bar of the mobile application – Plantation Made Easy. This refines the search of the tree species even finer than the previous two options, as the trees that suits best for the particular district are only listed here. This option is available only to districts of Tamil Nadu in the current version. In the upcoming releases of the mobile application, it will be made available for other states too.

Search by Query provided an option for a refined search to get the best suitable tree. This mobile application has 43 tree species, but only few of these will meet the requirement of the farmer. Search by Query helps the farmer to feed in the details of his land and the application will run a search to provide the farmer those tree species that matches his land conditions.