Assam forms task force to monitor agarwood trade, promote organised sector

Assam Minister Jayanta Mallabaruah on Wednesday, August 26 said nearly two lakh hectares of land outside forest areas are currently being used for cultivation, underlining the scale of agricultural activity associated with the sector.

Speaking about the agarwood trade, Mallabaruah said the business had for years been viewed as illegal, creating uncertainty among cultivators and traders. He said concerns over possible action by the Forest Department and police had restricted the free operation of the trade.

The minister said the sector had also, at different times, been controlled by a limited number of groups, resulting in genuine cultivators failing to receive the actual value of their produce while intermediaries benefited.

Mallabaruah further said there were reports of dry wood being brought from Indonesia and subsequently exported from Assam, raising questions over the manner in which the trade was being conducted.

A workshop was held to discuss the challenges facing the agarwood industry and measures to develop the sector. Mallabaruah said the government has constituted a task force to monitor the trade and examine measures for its organised development.

He said a large number of people are involved in agarwood cultivation, but farmers often do not receive adequate returns for their produce. The government is working on a system for conducting agarwood auctions and is also focusing on promoting agarwood-based industries in the state.

The minister said the process of shutting down the Monpally market in Hojai began on Wednesday.

According to Mallabaruah, Assam has the capacity to send around 1.20 lakh kg of agarwood and 5,000 litres of agarwood oil outside the state. However, only around 120 kg of agarwood was exported last year, highlighting the significant gap between the sector's potential and its actual exports.

On discrepancies in flood relief payments, Mallabaruah said some beneficiaries had received duplicate entries in their bank accounts because the financial assistance had to be disbursed on an urgent basis.

He said the discrepancy was detected and the payments were subsequently stopped.

Responding to a question about Raijor Dal MLA Akhil Gogoi, Mallabaruah said the government was currently focused on rehabilitation and reconstruction work rather than commenting on people making reels.