Guwahati: Meghalaya has no plan to allow oil palm cultivation due to a general opinion against it, state agriculture minister Ampareen Lyngdoh has said.
She said that instead the Meghalaya government will focus on helping farmers get better return for their produce through export and value addition.
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“As of now, we are not looking at that, yet. Because, in the initial discussion, even on floor the Assembly in 2021 and 2022, there was much resistance. The topic of discussion was: Should Meghalaya avoid or adopt oil palm. I don’t think it (the issue of allowing) will be taken forward in current term of this government,” businessline quoted Ampareen Lyngdoh as saying.
The current government’s five year tenure began this March.
Mizoram was the first to allow oil palm cultivation in the Northeast more than 15 years ago.
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With a special focus on the Northeast region and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the Centre targets to cover an additional area of 6.5 lakh hectare (lh) under oil palm by 202526 from 3.5 lh under National Mission on Edible Oils – Oil Palm (NMEOOP) in 2021.
Assam, Manipur, Nagaland and Tripura have already signed agreements with Godrej Agrovet and Patanjali Foods allowing them to enter into contract farming in different clusters to be decided by State governments.
Ampareen said the government has been focusing on value addition by helping farmers’ collectives set up processing facilities in collaboration with private companies.
“Our farmers are now being prepared to ensure they engage themselves in certain level of processing.
Even farmers are being given skilled training to dry pineapples which are used by food processors,” she said.
The State government has been organising farmers through clusters, forming self help groups, cooperatives, hand holding them for a few years till they become self sustained.
The objective is to efficiently market their produce in large volume to get higher remunerative prices, she added.