NEW DELHI, March 25: Tura MP, Agatha Sangma slammed the Centre yet again on Friday on its move to make the Northeast a hub of oil palm cultivation.
She cautioned that this will destroy the unique flora and fauna of the ecologically-sensitive region.
Under the “National Mission on Edible Oil” in the Northeast, the Centre allocated Rs 900 crore for the Edible Oil – Oil Palm programme. This is aimed at reducing import dependence and increasing the economic welfare of farmers.
“While reducing import dependence and ensuring our edible oil security is crucial, scientific evidence and mounting vulnerability to climate change clearly demonstrate that the Northeast region must not be a target area for expanding oil palm cultivation in India,” Agatha told the Lok Sabha.
She was participating in the debate on demand grant of the Ministry of Commerce & Industries. Earlier, she had shot off a letter to Prime Minister, Narendra Modi opposing oil palm cultivation in the region.
She had cited an instance of Mizoram where natural forests have been destroyed and the farmers reduced to penury. Unrestricted oil palm cultivation has led to a host of impoverished farmers and unaccountable monopoly companies, she said.
“While the government claims oil palm will not be promoted by destroying forest cover, it has already replaced natural and semi-natural forest areas in the Northeast, especially in Mizoram,” Agatha alleged.
Therefore, she said, the concern that such a trend will follow in other states of the Northeast cannot be ignored.
The MP stressed on the need to conserve biodiversity and pointed out the role of forests in climate change mitigation.
She urged the Centre to look at bringing permanently farmed/agricultural land in peninsular India under oil palm cultivation instead of the Northeast’s biodiversity rich forests or jhum cultivation area.
In her letter to Modi, she had stated that the planned oil palm farming would jeopardise the biodiversity hotspots in the Northeast by destroying its original forests. It will also affect the local tribes and create serious ethnic strife, she had cautioned.