Tripura: Agri Minister tours Malaysia for oil palm cultivation tech transfer
Agartala, Nov 10: Tripura Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Ratan Lal Nath recently visited the international conference on oil palm cultivation held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to ascertain how this crop could make a difference in the lives of state farmers. He had also visited the international research center for oil palm to understand the technological advancements taking place in the field of this particular crop and how Tripura could benefit from them.
In a brief social media post, Nath shared his experience and said that he could realise the opportunities in oil palm cultivation after attending the conference. “Oil palm is one of the profitable crops now in use by the farmers of India. Already, oil palm plantations have been started in our state as part of a special drive. After attending the international oil palm conference held in Kuala Lumpur, I became aware of different aspects of oil palm cultivation, especially the international demand patterns and supply chains”, Nath wrote.
According to sources, the agriculture department has selected two prominent processors, namely Godrej Agrovet and Patanjali Foods, as associate partners for the implementation of the National Mission on Edible Oils—Oil Palm (NMEO-OP) in Tripura. Districts like Unakoti, North District and Dalai District have been allotted to Godrej Agrovet and the rest of the five districts—Khowai, West, Sepahijala, Gomati and South District have been awarded to Patanjali Foods.
Godrej Agrovet has already set up one Oil Palm Nursery at Nalkata, Dhalai district, with 1,50,000 exotic types (imported from Indonesia/ Thailand) and 6,000 indigenous types of oil palm species on a sprawling 1000 hectares of land. Patanjali Foods, on the other hand, has set up one Oil Palm Nursery in Jumerdhepa, Sepahijala district, with one lakh exotic-type species of the crop. Another nursery has been set up in the Garjee area of Gomati district, where one lakh sprouted seeds have been brought from Thailand.
"All the saplings will be ready for plantation by the next season, which tentatively falls between April and September 2024", a senior official has said.
Senior officials of the Agriculture Department said that a total of 2,000 hectares of land will be expanded for oil palm cultivation with the financial help of the Central Government. "Plantation is completed on 47 hectares of land located in various parts of the state. In the last financial year, over five crore rupees were released for the plantation of oil palm. For the current financial year, over Rs 7.49 crore has been released", an official said.
A total of 18 officers from the Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare Department of Tripura have received training from ICAR-IIOPR (Indian Institute of Oil Palm Research) and are now imparting training as master trainers.