Arunachal kick starts mega palm oil plantation in Papum Pare district

Nabam Rebia MP Rajya Sabha and Agriculture minister Tage Taki on July 29 conducted a mega palm oil plantation at Balijan town of Papum Pare district of Arunachal.

Nabam Rebia stated that "From an economic point of view this is a viable project as palm oil plantation will enhance the rural economy. "I urged Agriculture Department to make it a mission mode revolutionary movement to encourage palm oil cultivation farming as we have enough unused land. This is a buy-back policy where Patanjali Foods will procure the oil directly from farmers. This palm oil farming is been encouraged by the central government also as there is a huge demand for palm oil in the international market," Rebia stated.

Patanjali will buy this oil from the farmers and assist them with all guidance and knowledge to do this palm oil farming.

Tage Taki, Agriculture cum horticulture minister of Arunachal speaking exclusively to IndiaTodayNE informed that there are four zones of palm oil cultivation in Arunachal among which three zones had been handed to Patanjali company which was earlier known as Ruchi Soya. 

Also Read: 150 developmental projects inaugurated in Balijan village of Arunachal Pradesh

"This Balijan town area comes under zone 4 and today Patanjali gave awareness to the farmers regarding palm oil cultivation and farming. Today we started this plantation as a start-up of this revolution in Arunachal. The benefits will take time as this palm oil plantation farming system gives much more profit than any other crops. If one farmer does one hectare of palm oil farming, three years later he can earn upto 2.5 lakh profit after the full growth of plants. This is the best benefit palm oil plants give to farmers, all plantation expenditures will be bear by the concerned company and there will be a buyback system where they will buy the plants from farmers.

The government will provide subsidies to the company in regard to transport charges, planting materials, and fertilizers. The state government in collaboration with the central government had signed MOU already, MSP basic minimum price had been kept and the company cannot reduce the buyback fixed prices of the crops.

Nabam Talar, consultant of Patanjali oil palm cultivation informed that this palm oil cultivation and mega plantation by MP and the agriculture minister aims to promote palm oil cultivation among poor farmers of Balijan. "This will definitely help the farmers in the long run and in future, they will earn handsomely from these crops. The company is giving free pully to the farmers and will give awareness about the farming techniques and knowledge to the farmers.10500 rupees per hectare will be given in terms of DVD through the agriculture Department to the farmers. "

In August 2021, the Government of India launched the National Mission on Edible Oils – Oil Palm (NMEO-OP). With a focus on increasing edible oil production from Oil Palm, NMEO-OP is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme, and the cost will be shared as 60:40 between the Central and the State Government for General states and 90:10 for NE states and 100% for UTs and central agencies. Amidst everything, ownership of the land continues to be with the farmer and not any corporate that has been allocated region for the oil palm cultivation.

Aiming to undertake oil palm plantation across 38,000 hectares in Arunachal Pradesh, Patanjali Foods will on Wednesday lay the foundation stone for setting up of a mill in the state's East Siang district. The company believes it will give impetus to the state's economy and will generate employment with an increase in farmers' income.

The company intends to cultivate oil palm across 5 lakh hectares across the country under National Mission on Edible Oils - Oil Palm, out of which 3.2 will be in the northeast region.

Patanjali's estimated annual palm oil production of 7.5 lakh tonnes is expected to be Rs 10,500 crore worth of foreign exchange.