Odisha’s Mayurbhanj now boasts of Oil Palm Exports

Baripada, Aug 7: The Mayurbhanj district, where Sabai cultivation is the main occupation since decades, is taking new leap in matter of cultivation of several kind of late, thanks to Horticulture Deputy Director Dharanidhar Patra whose initiatives took the district  in self-sufficient in oil palm cultivation now.

Oil palm the major ingredients used in producing palmolein oil was taken up line 2013 by horticulture department as a measure of experiments which grew into 400 hectares last  year.

Now this district boasts of a major exporter of oil palm seeds to companies allover India. This year under the initiatives of district collector Rajesh Pravakar Patil and  DDH Dharanidhara Patra the district  have taken up 1300 hectares of oil palm cultivation which would yield around hundreds of tonnes of oil palm.

This has benefited the tribal cultivator who earlier only depends on paddy and Sabai cultivation.The efforts of DDH in particular & horticulture department in general have greatly boosted the variety of cultivation here including sweet maize, apart from mango, lichi which are now being exported to multinationals.