MPCC secretary Bajop Pyngrope today stated that oil palm plantation would only benefit big players favoured by the BJP government at the centre and that it will foolish on the part of the Meghalaya government to support the mission.
“People like Baba Ramdev are the mainly sponsored by the BJP and all the oil palm cultivation will go to his company. It’s nothing but pure business and our people will just become mere slaves to these big companies,” Pyngrope told Highland Post.
He flagged concern that the oil palm cultivation would pose serious environmental threats and said that the direct impact on the scale of the deforestation and habitat destruction, due to oil palm cultivation is seen in countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia.
Besides the environmental impact it would have, the MPCC secretary also stated that oil palm cultivation has always been associated with corruption, force eviction, and land grabbing. He expressed fear that West Khasi Hills and Ri Bhoi districts will be “targeted” for this mission.
Stating that it would be foolishness to support oil palm cultivation in the State, Pyngrope said, “Chief Minister Conrad Sangma is a well-educated person and knows very well about the harm that it will cause to the state and if he succumbs to the central government pressure, then it only shows how our leaders are.”
“Our tribe is just like tadpoles in a cup of tea in front of the country and the entire world and all we would want is, a good healthy life and not something that will destroy our climate and environment,” he added.
Meanwhile environmentalist, Dr. Bremley Wanbantei Blah Lyngdoh said, “Having seen the devastating impact of massive deforestation from land clearing to make room for large industrial scale palm oil plantations during my travels to the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia, we in Meghalaya and other northeast states of India should avoid this madness at all costs.”
He said if such a mission is implemented under the National Mission on Edible Oil-Oil Palm it will destroy the remaining native forest ecosystems and change the hydrological cycle drying up our valuable freshwater resources which are already under stress from climate change.
“As we enter the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration we should follow the UNEP guidelines on restoring our degraded mountain ecosystems across the northeast region,” he said and suggested that the state need to train farmers to collect native seeds from the jungles and raise their community nurseries for planting in their native lands while stopping shifting cultivation and introducing regenerative agriculture using natural and organic farming approaches.
