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Good practice Imported

TAMS Tribal Green Fuels — Lantana-to-Briquette Enterprise for Tribal Livelihoods (Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve, India)

India · Sathyamangalam · See the India profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 96% 20/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

A tribal-owned Tamil Nadu company, seeded with a Rs 25 lakh state SC/ST Startup Fund grant, clears invasive Lantana camara from Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve and sells it as fuel briquettes, clearing ~150 acres and supporting 350 tribal workers in 47 villages since May 2024.

808 tonnes
Briquettes sold
~150 acres
Area cleared of Lantana
~350 people across 47 villages
Tribal members supported
25 INR lakh
Initial government grant (May 2023)
1.5 INR crore
Additional equity raised
TAMS Tribal Green Fuels — Lantana-to-Briquette Enterprise for Tribal Livelihoods (Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve, India)

Details

Maturity
Pilot
Promoter
TAMS Tribal Green Fuels Private Limited; Tamil Nadu Forest Department; Tamil Nadu SC/ST Startup Fund
Period
incorporated April 2023; government grant May 2023; briquette operations since May 2024
Keywords
invasive species removal, forestry, tribal livelihoods, biomass energy

Context

TAMS Tribal Green Fuels Private Limited was incorporated in April 2023 in the buffer villages of Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve, Tamil Nadu, and received a Rs 25 lakh grant in May 2023 under the Tamil Nadu government's SC/ST Startup Fund to manufacture biomass briquettes from Lantana camara, an invasive shrub that suppresses native forage species.

Activities

Owned by 30 tribal shareholders, the company clears Lantana and processes it into fuel briquettes with a calorific value above 4,800 kcal/kg, sold to industrial buyers as a wood-fuel substitute.

Results

Since beginning operations in May 2024, the company has sold 808 tonnes of briquettes, cleared nearly 150 acres within the reserve's core area, and supported around 350 tribal members with regular livelihood income across 47 villages, on top of Rs 1.5 crore in separate equity funding raised through Startup Tamil Nadu.

Conclusions

Unlike a comparable Lantana-removal programme at Kanha Tiger Reserve which has an independent multi-year outcome study, no independent ecological monitoring of native vegetation or wildlife recovery from TAMS's clearance has been published, and the 150-acre cleared area is a small fraction of the reserve's total infestation after about one year of commercial operation.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Low (< €50k) — Rs 25 lakh (~US$30k) state grant plus Rs 1.5 crore (~US$180k) equity funding.
Time to results
Medium (1–3 years) — Incorporated April 2023; briquette operations since May 2024.
Staffing & skills
30 tribal shareholders of TAMS Tribal Green Fuels, Tamil Nadu Forest Department

Conditions for success

  • dedicated state SC/ST Startup Fund seed grant
  • tribal ownership structure aligning income with reserve-compatible livelihoods
  • industrial offtake market for briquettes as a wood-fuel substitute

Common failure modes

  • no independent ecological monitoring to confirm native-vegetation or wildlife recovery from clearance
  • cleared area still a small fraction of total infestation after about a year

Where it fits

Governance type
tribal-owned enterprise with state government seed funding
Scale
local (Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve buffer villages)
Income level
lower-middle income (India)

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

Attachments

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