Agriculture and Farmer’s Welfare Minister of Tripura Ratan Lal Nath revealed the state government’s plan to expand palm oil cultivation to at least 7,000 hectares of land by 2026-27.
The initiative will be taken under the National Mission on Edible Oils – Palm Oil project.
Addressing a press conference in Agartala on Wednesday, the Minister said the climate, rainfall, and soil of the northeastern region, including Tripura, are favorable for palm oil cultivation.
The agriculture minister also pointed out the state’s agriculture department has signed a memorandum of understanding with two agricultural production companies of the country, Godrej Agrovert Limited and Patanjali Food Private Limited, to implement the National Mission on Edible Oils – Palm Oil project.
Accordingly, Godrej Agrovert Limited has set up a nursery in a government garden in Nalakanta, Dhalai district, on an area of 65 hectares, where it has produced 150,000 foreign varieties and 6,000 domestic palm oil seedlings.
Godrej Agrovert Limited has planted palm oil seedlings on 5,201 hectares of land in the state through farmers this year using palm oil seedlings brought from other states.
Patanjali Food Private Limited has also planted palm oil seedlings on a total of 431 hectares of land this year. In total, 5,635 hectares of palm oil cultivation area has been expanded in the state.
To implement the project, 18 officers of the state’s agriculture department have already been sent to Andhra Pradesh for training on palm oil. In addition, so far, 2,123 farmers in the state have been trained on palm oil cultivation. 1,076 farmers have already expressed interest in growing palm oil, Nath said.
Oil production from palm oil starts after four years and there is an opportunity to earn Rs. 3 lakh per hectare per year in terms of production after eight years. The economic life span of a palm oil tree is 30 years.