Palm oil cultivators in dire straits: Proper steps sought

JHENIDAH, Jun 4:  Palm oil cultivators across the country are in a difficult situation as they can neither sell the oilseeds they are growing nor can they extract oil from them.
According to Horticulture Research Centre under Agriculture Research Institute, Gazipur, a total of 1293.23 hectares of land has been brought under cultivation of palm oil trees in the fiscal year 2013-14 (F14) in Bangladesh.
Three species of palm oil trees - tenera, dura and picifera - are grown in Bangladesh.
Dutra species of palm trees are planted to enhance beauty of the homesteads and oil is extracted from palm seeds of tenera species.
However, the growers of oil palm are experiencing problems with continuation of cultivation of the crop.
The farmers neither eye demand for the oilseeds in the market nor can they extract oil from them.
Md. Hadisur Rahman at Boro Gheeghati under Kaligonj upazila in Jhenidah told the FE he had made an orchard of palm trees on 45 decimal of land five years ago spending Tk. 60,000 including saplings, labour, fertiliser, and irrigation cost.
However, he could not manage to sell a single fruit from his garden, which has left him utterly frustrated over continuing the crop.
While visiting the garden recently, this correspondent found lots of clusters of fruits being destroyed in the palm oil field due to lack of care.
Dr. Md. Al-Amin, Director of Oilseed Research Centre, Joydebpur, Gazipur, told the FE, "Any research is yet to be taken up here in our research centre. However, some germ plasmas  have been collected."
Manjur oil mill situated at Mona village under Comilla Sadar upazila,  which went into operation in 2012 is now producing 100 litres of  palm oil daily.
Outgoing US Ambassador in Bangladesh Dan W Mozena went to the Monjur oil mill site in March last to visit the palm project.
Monjur Agro-farm Ltd. computerized oil-palm mill, the first of this kind in Bangladesh, is going to be established at Mona village in Comilla.
Bangladesh Bank (BB) is financing Tk. 59 million for the project.
The infrastructure which will take 2-3 years to go into production, will have a capacity to produce 30,000 litre of oil daily.
Palm oil cultivation has a robust prospect in Bangladesh as its climate has a great similarity with that of Malaysia and Indonesia, according to Agriculture Research Institute, Gazipur.
If the government takes necessary initiatives for the development of the palm oil sector in the country, in near future it can save a lot of the foreign currency spent to import the oil, said concerned people.