Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu has requested the Centre for increasing the area under oil palm cultivation in the state to 12,000-15,000 hectares in the first year of the Centre’s new mission to boost its production. The had on August 18 approved the National Mission on Edible Oils – Oil Palm (NMEO-OP), with a focus on the northeast region and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, to promote the domestic cultivation of oil palm in the next five years. Allaying the fear of the impact of oil palm cultivation on forests, the chief minister said it is unlikely to have any effect since the areas identified for the purpose cover only wasteland.
On slow coverage of oil palm cultivation in the state, he attributed it to a lack of commitment from the promoters in setting up processing factories, which had led to a loss of confidence among the farmers. Khandu said a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with one of the promoters was cancelled and meetings have been called with the existing ones to fast track the mission. Speaking on the Organic Mission, Khandu said that the state had launched the mission in 2016 with the target of completing it by 2023, covering an area of 1-lakh hectares.