Oil palm will boost economy in NE: DoNER minister

NEW DELHI, Aug 19: Refuting apprehensions of environmental hazards, DoNER Minister G. Kishan Reddy on Thursday said that the Centre’s approval to large-scale oil palm cultivation in the Northeast will change the economic face of the region.
“The Union Cabinet has approved implementation of the National Mission on Edible Oils – Oil Palm. Identifying the NE region as a special focus area, it aims to reduce import dependency of palm oil benefitting the oil palm farmers & creating employment generation,” the minister said in a tweet.
The Union Cabinet also approved a package of Rs 77.45 crore for revival of North Eastern Regional Agricultural Marketing Corporation Limited (NERAMAC), a central public sector enterprise under the administrative control of the DoNER Ministry.
The revival of NERAMAC will ensure remunerative prices to the farmers and provide better farming facilities and training to the farmers of the Northeastern region, the minister said.
The Mission aims to increase the  area under cultivation for oil palm by an additional area of 6.5 lakh hectares thereby reaching the target of 10 lakh hectares in the next 5 years. “India is the largest edible oil importer in the world and imports 133.50 lakh tonnes costing 80 thousand crores.
“The government has identified the Northeastern region as a special focus area as the target set for the region in the next 5 years is more than 50% of the overall target set for the entire nation,” he said.
The minister also highlighted the existing experience of states such as Mizoram that are ranked among the top five cultivators of oil palm in the country.
“Farmers of states such as Mizoram already have significant oil palm cultivation experience and we can leverage their expertise in the rest of the Northeastern states,” he said.