Abstract

The works executed by the Kerala Forest Research Institute in collaboration with Sterling Tree Magnum (India) Limited, referred as STM, with the overall objective of developing a Management Information System (MIS) for plantations owned by STM are reported. Although the works were initiated with considerable enthusiasm and expectations from both sides and some progress made, the activities had to be stopped before its fruitful completion because of lack of interest and continued financial support from STM. A comprehensive format for gathering data from the plantations and an effective data processing and information retrieval system were developed considering the general structure of the plantations and the requirements of the management. The data were obtained from ten plantations of STM. The data included location details, several attributes related to growth and health of trees, soil status, input operations carried out and weather conditions in the plantations. The basic operational unit identified was a 'block' level on various features related to the crop, site amd input variables. Based on the data supplied by STM, the overall meann annual increment (MAI) of height in STM plantations during the initial three years of growth was found to be2.42 m compared to 2.07 m under site quality I of All India Yield Table for teak. The effect of better management seemed to be getting better with increasing age