Forests, however, are a provincial subject and unless there is full and active co-operation from the provincial governments, success in this field must be limited. So far as village consumers are concerned, while the policy of making the supply of fuel and timber to them as second in importance only to the control of floods and erosion is unexceptionable, the application of that policy does not appear to have yielded satisfactory results. Nine-tenths of the United Provinces, half of Bombay, most of West Bengal, much of Bihar, and the whole of coastal Orissa are almost completely without forests. The small quantities of fuel and timber required by the villagers in these areas cannot be transported long distances and still be within their purchasing power. The villagers have been compelled to use one of their most valuable agricultural assets for fuel, and this has seriously affected food production.
Agricultural crops depend very largely on the supply of manure.
In the past India has largely depended on cowdung to supply the nitrogen deficiency. The total production of cattle manure in India is estimated at 160 million tons of dry weight, or 800,000 tons of nitrogen. This manure can be saved only if the rural population is provided with fuel from quick-growing trees where there are no natural forests to draw upon. This question has been discussed both by the central government and by the Provinces, but, owing to the lack of a determined policy, little has been done. The establishment and implementation of such a policy remains one of India's most urgent and important problems.