Potentialities of new line planting technique of Enrichment planting in Peninsular Malaysia: A review of resource sustainability and economic feasibility

It has been few decades since the measures were taken to rehabilitate the forest after logging in peninsular Malaysia. Enrichment planting is one of the potential rehabilitation measures. The technical issues like line planting technique, spacing, species-site matching are crucially related to the success of rehabilitation effort. Different factors are directly or indirectly related to the success of it. These factors affect the overall performance of the plantation. The performance of different techniques varies from each other. The features of the new line planting technique are different from the other conventional planting techniques to some extent. Techniques of enrichment planting, thus, are needed to be reviewed to determine the role of new technique towards sustainability. The study focused on the potentialities of line planting technique of enrichment planting in Peninsular Malaysia. It emphasized on sustainability perspective as well economic feasibility of the technique. The overview of the present enrichment planting indicates that the plantations following line planting technique have good growth performance that leads to an increase in resource base. The salient criteria of line planting considers few aspects of planting technique that are required to be followed by the forest managers to make it sustainable. The use of improved techniques, thus, ensures the necessary conditions for regeneration of forest, its expected growth and sustainability. By carrying out a financial analysis, it was seen that the technique is also economically feasible. The Net Present Value and Internal Rate of Return of the enrichment planting with new technique are higher than the enrichment planting with other techniques. In order to ensure it’s more scientific implementation, furthered in depth technical assessment such as species-site matching, biodiversity aspects and adequate information are necessary to establish it towards sustainable forest resource base.