At present, oil palm is cultivated in six districts - Aizawl, Kolasib, Mamit, Serchhip, Lunglei and Lawngtlai - covering an area of 5,492 hectares.
Agriculture director Dr C Lalzarliana informed the 9th meeting of Mizoram Oil Palm Advisory Committee that there are 7,97,093 oil palm trees in Mizoram according to the oil palm population census 2012. '
Oil palm cultivation would be extended to 2650 hectares this year and another 6000 hectares next year,' he said. The oil palm cultivation has been carried out in Mizoram under a centrally sponsored scheme of 75:25 sharing between central and state government.
As much as 1,33,000 hectares of land has been earmarked for the oil palm cultivation.
Experts said Mizoram's soil and climatic conditions are suitable for oil palm and it is the only state in the Northeast where oil palm cultivation is done. Kolasib and Mamit districts had been allotted to Godrej Oil Palm Limited, Lunglei and Lawngtlai districts were allotted to Ruchi Soya Industries Limited while Serchhip, Aizawl, and Saiha districts were bagged by 3Fs Oil Palm Agrovet Pvt Ltd.
Since 2008, these companies purchased the oil palms at Rs 4.75 per kg from the plantation site. Till date, the oil palm farmers have sold 424.496 metric tonnes of oil palm worth Rs 1476.48 lakh.
The factories would extract oil from fresh fruit bunches which would then be refined and used as edible oil. The kernel extracts would be used for making soaps and cosmetics.
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