Tripura govt to start cultivation of red oil palm; urges farmers to come forward

Apurba Roy, secretary of the Agriculture and Farmers Welfare department assured the farmers that it is a commercial crop that will generate income and have a guaranteed market

The Tripura government has taken an initiative to popularise the cultivation of red oil palm in the state, which aims to increase the income of farmers, reduce the import of oil palm, and make India self-sufficient in its production, said Apurba Roy, secretary of the Agriculture and Farmers Welfare department in Tripura.

Apurba Roy said this on the sidelines of a press conference in the secretariat on Wednesday.

The Secretary said that under the National Mission on Edible Oil and Oil Palm (NMEO-OP), Tripura is also going to start cultivation of oil palm in a 530-hectare area in the state, and to encourage farmers in its cultivation, the government is going to provide financial assistance of Rs 1 lakh per hectare, beside providing imported disease-free quality planting materials and a buyback guarantee for the harvested crop as value addition units shall also be setup here, thus providing employment scope for the people of the state.

The Secretary added that compared to rubber, the profit in oil palm is almost double; moreover, it starts giving income from the fourth year onward, and during the initial years Cocoa can also be intercropped along with it.

He also informed that the Tripura government’s Agriculture and Farmers Welfare department has signed memorandum of understanding with two companies, Godrej Agrovet Ltd. and Pataniali Foods Ltd., for the implementation of NMEO-OP as associate partners, and both have assured them of buying back the palm produced from the farmers along with setting up units for the value addition of the extracted palm oil and its marketing.

Roy has urged the farmers to come forward and start the cultivation of red oil palm. He assured that it is a commercial crop that will generate income and have a guaranteed market.

Meanwhile, the government of India has identified a 7,000-hectare area as a potential area for oil palm in the state for new area expansion, and out of four nurseries, two have already been set up in Jumerdhepa and Nalkata.

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