Relevant ministry needs to soonest scrutinize and report back actual utilization of cultivable lands or not under farmland policies and farmland laws: says Senior General

Efforts are being made to reduce oil consumption and increase oil production through the cultivation of oil palm trees with the aim of having an individual healthy life and reducing the spending of foreign exchange for the State, said State Administration Council Chairman Prime Minister Senior General Min Aung Hlaing in inspecting Taungdagon oil palm cultivation project in Bokpyin Township yesterday afternoon.
First, Chief Minister of the region U Myat Ko reported to the Senior General on the cultivation of oil palm trees in the Taninthayi Region and further plans to extend the trees.
Officials reported on the implementation of the Taungdagon oil palm cultivation project, the progress of tasks, further cultivation of oil palm trees in the remaining areas, nurturing of quality strains of trees, quality control of fruits, production of quality oil, sending of crude palm oil to the oil mill in Yangon, production of cooking oil and soaps with the use of palm oil.
Union Minister for Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation U Tin Htut Oo presented the cultivation of oil palm trees in the Taninthayi Region and further plans for the cultivation of trees.
After hearing the reports, the Senior General said lack of actual cultivation on the cultivable lands cause much loss to the businesspersons wishing to actually carry out the cultivation and the State. Hence, the relevant ministry needs to soonest scrutinize and report back the actual utilization of cultivable lands or not under the farmland policies and the farmland laws. At present, oil palm cultivation businesspersons need to actually grow oil palm trees on cultivable lands and produce palm oil meeting set standards.
The Senior General stressed officials need to supervise the misuse of cultivable lands under the laws. Preparations must be made for regrowing the oil palm trees in the proper process and emphasize the continuous production of saplings. Due to the high consumption of edible oil in the country, a large volume of oil is imported on a yearly basis. In the 2020-21 financial year, cooking oil worth more than US$800 million was spent by the State. According to the calculation of experts, an individual person needs 1.58 ticals of oil per day and each person needs to consume some six visses of oil per year. On one hand, efforts are being made to reduce oil consumption and increase oil production through the cultivation of oil palm trees with the aim of having an individual healthy life and reducing the spending of foreign exchange for the State. In order to reduce the import volume of palm oil, the businesspersons engaging in the production of palm oil need to strive for further production of oil. The Senior General stressed the need to reform the agricultural sector. As abuse of farmlands causes much loss to the State, all businesspersons need to strive for proper use of farmlands and grow oil palm trees cent per cent in Kawthoung and Bokpyin regions.
The Senior General presented foodstuffs for staff, viewed the production of crude palm oil factories in the project area and attended to the needs of officials.
The Senior General viewed the production process of raw oil, crude oil, palm oil and soap. —MNA