The National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) has disbursed Rs 45 lakh (USD 50,000) to Red Sanders farmers in Andhra Pradesh through the Andhra Pradesh State Biodiversity Board, continuing its Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) payouts. With this release, India’s cumulative ABS disbursements have crossed Rs 143.5 crore (USD 16 million).

The initiative highlights the dual-income opportunity for Red Sanders cultivators—earnings from the lawful sale of cultivated wood/logs and monetary benefits under the ABS mechanism mandated by the Biological Diversity Act, 2002—thereby rewarding conservation and sustainable use of the endemic species.

To date, the NBA has released over Rs 104 crore to Andhra Pradesh for Red Sanders conservation and benefit-sharing, and over Rs 15 crore to other states including Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Odisha and Telangana. In the past three months alone, Rs 5.35 crore has been distributed to more than 220 Red Sanders farmers across Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Telangana.

The NBA said the ABS framework ensures fair and equitable benefit-sharing, promotes sustainable utilisation, and helps curb illegal trade and over-exploitation by linking conservation outcomes with tangible economic returns—supporting livelihoods while strengthening India’s global biodiversity leadership.