National Biodiversity Releases Rs 45 lakh for red sanders farmers in AP

The National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) has continued its series of Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) disbursements with the release of Rs 45 lakh (around $50,000) to Red Sanders cultivators in Andhra Pradesh through the State Biodiversity Board, an official said on Friday.

With this disbursement, India’s cumulative ABS releases have now exceeded Rs 143.5 crore (approximately $16



million), the official from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change said.

The initiative underscores the economic opportunity available to Red Sanders cultivators, who derive dual income benefits — first, through the lawful sale of cultivated Red Sanders wood and logs, and second, through monetary benefits under the ABS mechanism mandated by the Biological Diversity Act, 2002.