GUWAHATI, 5 Oct: Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu informed that the roadmap for implementation of the ambitious National Mission on Edible Oils-Oil Palm (NMEO-OP) has been finalized and the state government will be implementing it on the ground soon.
Speaking at the ‘Business summit for northeastern states’ on the national mission here in Assam on Tuesday, he said, “Arunachal Pradesh, geographically the largest state in the Northeast, has about 1.33 lakh hectares of land feasible for oil palm cultivation as assessed by a central team in 2019.”
“Based on the assessment, we have identified the lands, farmers and developers. We will go full swing in implementing the mission very soon,” Khandu said.
He termed the summit “a game-changing platform for the Northeast” and hailed the central government for focusing on sectors that will usher in accelerated development in the region.
Khandu informed that “Arunachal Pradesh, in fact, is not new to oil palm cultivation.” He said that the state already has about 4,250 hectares under oil palm cultivation. The scheme implemented years ago was left unattended due to lack of handholding for farmers.
“Farmers didn’t expand their cultivation, saying that there were no processing factories, while the private companies said that, without expansion of cultivation sites, establishment of factories wasn’t feasible. This cost the earlier scheme. But under the new national mission, things have changed. Under it, both our farmers and private investors will be in a win-win situation,” he said.
Khandu also sought support from the central government for procuring quality seeds and fertilizers at subsidized rates. He also requested for establishment of a zonal or regional level research centre on oil palm in Arunachal Pradesh.
Meanwhile, seeking to counter the “anti-oil palm school of thoughts,” Khandu urged experts, social media influencers and journalists to “get the facts right” and “pass the right information” to the masses instead of propagating “unfounded misinformation” on the effects of oil palm cultivation being circulated mostly through social media.
Hosted by Assam’s agriculture department, the summit was chaired by union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar along with union Minister for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) G Kishan Reddy.
It was attended by MoS for DoNER BL Verma, MoS for Agriculture Shobha Karandlaje, MoS for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Kailash Choudhary, agriculture ministers from the NE states, and other dignitaries.
A total of 28 lakh hectares of land is said to be available across the country for oil palm cultivation. Out of these, 9.62 lakh hectares are available in the Northeast alone.
The NMEO-OP is worth Rs 11,000 crores. (CM’s PR Cell)
