NE tea planters' body urge Centre, Assam govt to allow oil palm trees planting in tea gardens

Guwahati, April 3 (IANS) Leading tea planters' body, the North Eastern Tea Association (NETA) on Thursday urged both Central and state governments to extend the National Mission on Edible Oils – Oil Palm (NMEO-OP) scheme in the tea estates of Assam for the cultivation of oil palm trees.

NETA adviser Bidyananda Barkakoty said that the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, in a letter to Assam government’s Director of Agriculture on April 1, has agreed to extend the NMEO-OP scheme for cultivating oil palm trees on five per cent land of the tea gardens of Assam.

The Central government had issued operational guidelines of the NMEO-OP scheme in April 2022 for availing assistance, which would end in 2025-26, he told the media.

Barkakoty said that the tea estates of Assam could not avail of the scheme because of land classification and certain other conditions in the guidelines.

Therefore, the NETA appealed to both the Central and Assam governments to extend the NMEO-OP scheme to the tea gardens.

The NETA, in its letter, mentioned that oil palm cultivation requires substantial capital investment for planting, irrigation, maintenance for the non-harvesting period of the initial four years, etc.

Based on an appeal made by NETA, the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has responded positively and has written to the Assam government’s Agriculture department to extend the support for the cultivation of oil palm trees on five per cent land of tea gardens.

According to Barkakoty, NETA has done an in-house study and found that tea and oil palm can be cultivated in harmony.

"The study also found that cultivation of agar tree, oil palm tree and other cash crops in the five percent of tea garden land has become essential to overcome the economic challenges currently faced by the tea industry," he said.

The Assam government, in a Gazette notification on October 14, 2022, has allowed five per cent of total tea garden land to be used for specific purposes as mentioned in the notification, which include cash crops.

Also, the Assam cabinet, on January 10 this year, approved the notification of the oil palm crop as a cash crop in the state.

The West Bengal government, also in a Gazette notification on February 11, has allowed 15 per cent of tea garden land to be used for specific purposes as mentioned in the notification.

The assistance under NMEO-OP includes planting material, management up to gestation period (4 years), inputs for intercropping, land clearance, bio fencing, drip irrigation, bore well/pump set/water harvesting structure/vermi compost unit, harvesting tools. There is also a special package for the northeastern states.

The NETA adviser said that India is dependent on imports to meet its edible oil requirements and is the largest importer of edible oils in the world. Therefore, to fulfil the national interest, the NMEO-OP scheme had been launched with the aim of enhancing the edible oilseeds production and oils availability in the country by harnessing Oil Palm area expansion and to reduce the import burden on edible oils.

The 44-year-old tea producers' association NETA represents 179 tea companies across Assam, Nagaland, and Arunachal Pradesh. Collectively, their members contribute approximately 150 million kgs of tea annually, accounting for nearly 20 per cent of Assam's total production.

--IANS

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