July 1: Scarcity of funds has hit the afforestation programmes in Anantapur district. The district has 1,989 sq km of forest land out of a geographical area of 19,134 sq km. Forests are being destroyed here for firewood, erratic rainfall and heavy soil erosion. The district, which re-ceives the poorest rainfall in the country, second only to Jaisalmer in Rajasthan, is also under threat of rapid desertification. To develop forests, the Central ministry of forests and environment proposed a national afforestation scheme and constituted Forest Development Agencies (FDA) to implement these. Allocation of paltry funds and irregular release is stymieing the scheme. Government released Rs 45 lakh for the afforestation programme during 2009-10 and officials spent Rs 25 lakh. Government has not released funds for 2010-11 so far. Only 10.2 per cent forest area has been notified in the district though it should be 33 per cent. Government has also been cutting 20 per cent funds by revising estimates since a decade. As a result, officials are unable to take up large-scale afforestation programmes from the past 10 years. The World Bank has also stopped sponsoring programmes in the district from 2000. Meteorologists feel that low vegetation is one of the reasons for poor rainfall and rapid desertification in the district. It is estimated that villagers are using 15 lakh tonnes of firewood per annum. The Anantapur divisional forest officer, Mr T.V. Subba Reddy, said that left over FDA funds of Rs 20 lakh were being utilised now for an afforestation programme over 240 hectares through Vana Samrakshana Samitis (VSS) and proposals were sent to the Central government for fresh funds.