Comments
Faced with touch challenge from imports, the oil palm industry has asked the Centre to increase the duty to 45 per cent from the current 12.5 per cent to give a breather to the indigenous industry.
The Oil Palm Developers and Processors Association (OPDPA) said that increase of import duty on palm oil would give a boost to the domestic production, besides helping the country save foreign exchange.
“We need to have an exclusive import policy for the industry to ensure a sustainable pricing level for farmers and the industry,” OPDPA President Sanjay Goenka has said.
In a wish-list sent to Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitely, he said the Union government should consider allocating ₹10,000 crore for the development of the palm oil industry to promote domestic cultivation.
He also wanted the government to set up a separate Board for the planned development and protection of the industry. “The Board could address issues faced by the industry on a priority basis,” he said.
The association demanded efficient implementation of market intervention scheme (MIS) to bail out the farmers when faced with crop losses incurred due to market fluctuations.
The present scheme attends to their problems only during natural calamities.
It felt that the country could reap the benefits of the recent decision to allow 100 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) only if the government relaxed the Urban Land Ceiling Act.
He said the country could increase the acreage by allotment of secondary forest land to companies for palm plantations.
Special status The association wanted the government to consider according a special status to the North-Eastern States, encouraging more farmers to take up palm cultivation.
“They must be given logistic and infrastructure support,” he said. North East States such as Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram amongst others which has fertile and virgin land pools should be given special status with respect to palm oil cultivation.
The special status benefits should include logistic/ infrastructure support to the developers, additional farm amenities to the farmer. This will not only help the growth of oil palm industry but also leads to economic development of the region.
For oil palm manufacturing industries, the association wants the Centre to consider the long gestation nature of the plant and the high capital cost incurred in setting up a mill. Hence, the government must provide relief to the developers in terms of taxation benefits and mill subsidies.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.