ITANAGAR, 22 Feb: Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein on Tuesday urged officials of the Rubber Board to conduct field visits to know the actual problems being faced by rubber farmers in the state.
In a meeting with the Rubber Board’s Guwahati (Assam)-based Zonal Office Joint Production Commissioner Binoy Lukose N, Mein said that many farmers in the foothills in East Siang, Lower Dibang Valley, Lohit, Namsai, Changlang and Papum Pare districts have taken up rubber plantation but due to lack of buyers, coupled with lack of technical know-how for tapping, processing and marketing of the products, most of the farmers are no more interested in taking up rubber plantation.
The DCM said that “there is large scope for expansion of rubber plantation in the state, but first we must let the matured plantations to take off and let the people see the benefits derived from the rubber plantations in order to win the confidence of the farmers back and revive rubber cultivation in the state.”
He also requested the board’s officials to impart training to the farmers in tapping and processing and organize awareness camps from time to time.
Lukose was accompanied by Development Officer John V Zechariah, Assistant Development Officer Summie Doye and Kerala-based M/s Harrison Malayalam Ltd’s vice president Biju Panicker.
Among others, Trade & Commerce Director Sonyung Modi was also present at the meeting.
In a separate meeting with officials of the palm oil company Ruchi Soya Industries Ltd, Mein urged its senior plantations manager Sanjeev Gayen and its oil palm division plantation manager Manoj Sharma to expedite the establishment of a palm oil processing factory in the state to boost the confidence of the farmers to take up palm oil cultivation.
He also asked them to tie up with the nurseries of the agriculture and horticulture departments for production of saplings for distributing to the farmers.
Gayen informed that, currently the state has more than 3,000 hectares under oil palm cultivation, yielding 20-30 tons per hectare in its fourth year of cultivation, “which is encouraging.” He further informed that the company is buying the palm oil produces from the farmers for Rs 8,000 per ton.
He assured that, “once the approval by the government of Arunachal for the establishment of palm oil processing is granted, it will take only six months to establish the first palm oil processing factory in Niglok in East Siang district by the Ruchi Soya Industries Ltd.”
“The company is also planning to establish palm oil processing units in other areas of the state, the MoU for which was signed in 2014,” he said.
The DCM also held discussions with senior officials of the Arunachal Pradesh State Council for Science & Technology. (DCM’s PR Cell)
