Coimbatore :The Mahatma Green India Mission (MGIM), formerly known as Isha nurseries and produce cent per cent natural-input saplings, has distributed 43 lakh saplings this year through its 35 nurseries in Tamil Nadu.

The demand for high-value species such as Mahogany, Melia Dubia, Teak and Red Sanders among others has spiked dramatically since the launch of the Cauvery Calling campaign

MGIM is an initiative of Project Green Hands (PGH), the largest grassroots greening movement in India, launched by Isha Founder Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev in 2004 and since then enrolled over 3 million people in planting 38 million trees in an ongoing effort to increase green cover in Tamil Nadu to the nationally mandated 33 per cent.

PGH has been awarded India’s highest environmental award, the Indira Gandhi Paryavaran Puraskar and also holds the Guinness Record for planting the most number of trees in 3 days: 852,587 saplings planted in 6284 locations in Tamil Nadu.

Demand outstripped supply this year after the farmer outreach program as part of the Cauvery Calling campaign, generated huge demand for high-value tree species.

MGIM is expected to accelerate scaling its operations in the Cauvery basin in order to supply the demand and MGIM distributes saplings to anyone committed to nurturing them and ensuring their survival and growth.

This year, 45 per cent of the recipients were farmers.

In addition to distributing the naturally grown saplings, the Mission team also visit farms, study soil, terrain, agro-climatic conditions and irrigation facilities and recommend appropriate species for plantation and also provide consultative services, training and support to farmers for 3 years after they plant the saplings to ensure maturity and high survival rates.