Trees provide fuel, food for people and livestock, building materials, shade, soil fertility, and most importantly provide the oxygen for us to breathe in creating a lovely landscape and climate. We must accept that replanting trees is a national priority though many people are indiscriminately felling down trees due to greed of money. Every individual or organization should support tree planting for its environmental benefits . ADHAR has no exception. This year over 5 ac of land have been planted and cared for by ADHAR supported Caretakers at Mukundpur village under Boladi Gram Panchayat in Sonepur block, Orissa.The main objective of this plantation is to demonstrate to the local community people and other stakeholders in the area the suceess of tree plantation programme in drought prone KBK district . Sonepur was earlier a part of Bolangir district is very much drought prone in nature due to low and erratic rainfall and high run off. Depending on the success of this programme next year 100 SHG members will be encouraged for tree plantation programme as a means of livelihood. In continuation of this programme there is a plan to cover 1350 SHG members of 100 SHG groups in next few years The plants selected are of three types a) Medicinal plants ( Neem, Amla etc), b) Fruit bearing ( Guava, Mango, lemon, Jack fruit) c) Woodlots( Shegun, Chakunda). Hand pump has been installed and for proper watering the plants. The area of plantation is protected with fencing. 
Further scope : By now out of 14 ac of land only 5 ac of land have been covered with variety of plants including horticulture, medicinal and forest wood. Rest 9 ac of land is underused. This vacant land can easily be covered with plantation programme subjected to availability of water sources. Digging of large diameter dug well is the best alternative . Plants are available in the local nursery. The cost of each plant varies from Rs.6 to 24 depending on the type of plants. The cost of plantation of each plant varies from Rs. 60 to Rs.70 including cost transportation, bio-fertilizer and labour( pit digging, plantation and labour of watering of plants etc). The cost does not include the digging cost of a new dug well which is absolutely necessary specially in the summer season.
Climate in Western Orissa - The floral diversity and topographical variety ensure the experience of all the six seasons in this area. Western Orissa experiences five seasons prominently, namely, Summer, Rainy, Autumn, Winter and Spring. Spring and Autumn season are short lived. Summer season is generally from 1 April to end of June. During summer season the climate is generally very hot and dry. In the month of May, mercury shoots above 40 °C in most of the places in western Orissa district like Balangir, Sonepur , Sambalpur, Kalahadi , Nuapada etc.with a maximum temperature hovering around 48 °C . Rainy season is in the month of July and August, during which, the area experiences moderate rainfall, which varies from 115 to 145 cms from place to place. In winter season, which is generally in the months of December and January, minimum temperature comes down to 4 °C . In the last few decades, western Orissa has suffered from repeated drought. and it is considered the poorest region in India
