Agri Director allays fears on Oil palm cultivation

November 4, 2023 23 Views No Comment

Says project being implemented only in foothills and wastelands

Morung Express News
Chümoukedima | November 4

Allaying fears and apprehensions on the prospects of oil palm cultivation in Nagaland, Ben Yanthan, Director, Department of Agriculture observed, “Recently, there have been a lot of misgivings in the media regarding oil palm cultivation.” However, “I want to make this point clear that cultivation of oil palms in the state are targeted only in the foothills, wastelands and abandoned jhum fields without disturbing the forest land in a ‘project mode,” he explained.

The official was speaking during the two-day national seminar on the topic of ‘Sustainable Emerging Approach in Agri-Business Development,’ organised by the Department of Agricultural Economics at Nagaland University, School of Agriculture Sciences Medziphema Campus on November 3.

Under the National Mission for Edible Oils (NMEO), the state’s existing foothill regions, where the push is being made, has been divided into two zones- Dimapur, Chümoukedima, Niuland, Peren and Wokha districts under Zone-I. While Mokokchung, Longleng and Mon districts will be under Zone-II.

Oil palm more efficient crop compared to other alternatives
Justifying his stance, he stated that oil palm is only grown under rain-fed conditions and presently irrigation is not being provided even during non-rainy months. “Oil palm is a very efficient crop compared to alternatives like sunflower and olive,” he said.

This was because the other crops including olive, soy, rapeseed or corn crops would require nearly ten times more land if oil palm were to be replaced. Moreover, the production of other vegetable oils would still impact the biodiversity because those crops would need land to be cleared too, he added.

For production, oil palm would not require much energy input and needed less fertilizers or pesticides than other vegetable oil crops, Yanthan said.

Water requirement less than rice sugarcane or banana
On the notion that oil palm cultivation would impact ground water levels, the official claimed that the majority of its functional roots were within 0-60 cms from the soil surface, “therefore they cannot draw water from the ground.” “Water requirement of oil palm is much less as compared to rice sugarcane and banana,” he stated in this regard.

He also mentioned that the oil palm tree isolates more carbon to the tune of 15 tonnes per hectare, thus mitigating greenhouse gas like a forest.

Based on these arguments, the official remarked that more research findings on its cultivation in the state by the Indian Institute of Oil Palm Research (IIOPR) will be published soon by the department in the local print dailies.

Jhum cultivation a security against crop failure
In other aspects of discussion, the official shared that although jhum cultivation has been criticized heavily for its ecological impact by policymakers and scientists, it must be realised from many instances of the benefits from multi-cropping in jhum provides security against crop failures, market failure/ dependence, nutritional imbalances and soil infertility.

In Nagaland, jhum cultivation is based on traditional indigenous knowledge and stewardship of the environment in many areas as it is through the establishment of community conserved areas and is a community/family-run process.

He also strongly recommended for the promotion of Agri tourism through direct-to-consumer sales by having farm stands and marketing sheds in the rural areas, agricultural education via school visits to a farm, promoting home/farm stays, recreational and entertainment events like fishing, hay rides and harvest dinners.