CM allays fear over oil palm plantation
Source: Chronicle News Service
Imphal, June 14 2022:
The Department of Agriculture under the CSS of National Mission on Edible Oils and Oil Palm (NMEO-OP) organised a one-day national workshop on 'Promotion of Oil Palm in Manipur' at Hotel Classic Grande, here on Tuesday.
Inaugurating the workshop as chief guest, chief minister N Biren stated that there had been apprehension among the public about degradation of soil, forest and nothing could be planted on the soil once the oil palm plantation had been taken up.
The workshop was organised to discuss and make people aware of the scientifically proven facts that no harm had been caused by oil palm plantation.
Other crops like pineapple, coffee, etc., could be grown successfully in close proximity to oil palm plantation, he said.
The CM also urged the scientists, experts, academicians and representatives of CSOs present in the workshop to clear the doubts of the public regarding oil palm plantation.
Stating that India is one of the largest importers of edible oil in the world, he pointed out that Manipur is also depending on other states in terms of rice, pulses, fish and other food items.
It is important for everyone to contribute in making the nation self-sustainable and enhance its economic growth, he said.
The CM said that the Oil Palm Project was virtually launched in the state on November 12, 2020 and potential areas of 66,652 hectares had been identified in six districts by verifying suitable areas through observation and had started the plantation.
He appreciated the talents and efforts of Oil Palm Manipur team and officials of agriculture department for being able to produce saplings of oil palm in a short span of time.
There had been delay in expansion of projects due to certain apprehensions among the public about the adverse effects of oil palm plantation, he noted.
Agriculture minister Thongam Biswajit, who presided over the function, said that India is one of the largest importers of oil palm, draining a huge amount of money from the country.
Once the production of oil palm is started through large scale cultivation, the huge amount spent on importing the same could be used for other developmental projects, he added.
Assuring that cultivation of oil palm would provide benefit to farmers, he appealed to all to take up the initiative of planting oil palm so as to make the country economically viable.
He also emphasised on the need for more funding to enhance the area of coverage for plantation of oil palm as the state had already identified large areas of potential land for such plantation.
During the inaugural programme, short films on 'Past-Present & Future of Oil Palm Project Manipur' and success stories of oil palm farmers of Arunachal Pradesh were also screened.
In the first technical session of the workshop, ICAR-IIOPR director Dr RK Mathur spoke on 'Oil palm scenario in the country, its scope and impact with respect to North Eastern Region' as resource person.
ICAR-IIOPR principal scientist Dr MV Prasad spoke on 'Impact and scope of oil palm cultivation in South Asian countries versus in India with reference to North Eastern Region' while ministry of agriculture deputy commissioner (Oil Palm) BK Srivastava spoke on 'Government of India's plan of oil palm cultivation in North Eastern Region'.
The second session was a media interactive session, which was participated by editors and reporters from different media houses.
Additional chief secretary (health) and also ex-officio chairman of (SLSC), Oil Palm Manipur V Vumlunmang, agriculture commissioner M Joy, agriculture director N Gojendro, representatives from Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Nagaland, scientists, experts and other officials also attended the programme.
It may be mentioned here that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while delivering an address during the virtual foundation stone laying ceremony of Manipur Water Supply Project on July 23, 2020, appealed to the farmers in North-Eastern states to take up Oil Palm cultivation with an aim to make India self-sufficient in edible oil.
He also recommended the state governments of the region to set up Oil Palm Missions in their respective states to promote cultivation of Oil Palm.
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