Shivraj Singh Chouhan recently stated in Lok Sabha that cultivating oil palm has no effect on water table apart from it, it also helps in carbon sequestration and helps to increase the green cover. Oil palm is strictly grown on non forest lands and as a intercrop when low value crop is grown in field.
Chouhan wants to promote the oil palm cultivation in forest lands and across North-Eastern regions and Andaman & Nicobar Islands. He informed about the study conducted by ICAR-IIOPR (Indian oil of Oil Palm Research) to find out the potential areas for cultivation of it and considering various parameters including weather conditions and soil of that region.
Advanced technology like GIS and Remote sensing were used by them and reports suggests that oil palm requires less water as compared to crops like banana, paddy and sugarcane etc.
Crops like oil palm is heavy feeder so require large quantity of nutrients. Currently GAVL (Godrej Agrovet Ltd.) is a leading company who is cultivating oil palm across various states in india at large hectares of land.
