– Abhijit Nath, NET Correspondent, Tripura

The Tripura government to give a renewed push to Agarwood trade & cultivation has taken steps to formulate the ‘Tripura Agar Wood Policy 2021’.

As part of the policymaking process, the department has taken initiative to seek advice from state intellectuals, agar traders, agar farmers, and agar oil makers.

Chief Minister Biplab Kr Deb took to his social media account seeking advice from the people to send their suggestions through e-mail at www.tripurance@gmail.com so that the government can make a final policy.

It is noteworthy to mention here that the Governor of Assam issued an order on December 18, 2020, to notify that ‘The Assam Agarwood Promotion Policy 2020’ will be effective from January 01, 2021, and will remain in force for a period of 5 years.
Assam is to come up with Agar International Trade Centre, which is the first-of-its-kind in the country at Dabidubi in Golaghat district. The new trade centre would significantly help the farmers and agripreneurs of Agar to sell their products.

The Forest department official told Northeast Today that the Agar (Aquilaria malaccensis) is an evergreen tree that grows in Tripura in abundance. This species has a huge potential of creating another “Economic Revolution” in Tripura after Rubber, Bamboo and other major forestry crops of Tripu.

“The low input for management and growth, lack of site-specificity and intercropping adaptation could make Agar a preferred cash crop. In Tripura, this critically endangered tree is quite adaptable to the land. In order to promote Agar tree, its plantation, its sustainable harvesting and promoting Agarwood based Industry, the Government of Tripura is contemplating to bring a detailed policy for promotion of Agarwood in the state,” the official said.