AGARTALA, June 6: A three-member World Bank team on Friday visited agarwood factories and interacted with growers in North Tripura’s Kadamtala area to take stock of the agar sector and explore its prospects, an official said.
The team, headed by World Bank consultant Dan Altrell, held a meeting with senior officials of the forest department to learn about the activities in the agarwood industries, he said.
The three-member group, also comprising consultants Erick Z Soruco and Sushanta Paul, visited the agar market at Kadamtala and interacted with growers to know their views on how the World Bank could extend help to them.
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“The World Bank team is in the state in connection with a project in which non-timber forest products are a component. Since agar-based factories are concentrated at Kadamtala, the team visited the place to know the ground reality. During the visit, the World Bank team interacted with the agar growers as well as the people engaged in agarwood processing,” North Tripura District Forest Officer (DFO) Suman Malla told PTI.
Currently, agar oil and chips are exported to West Asian countries where these products have good demand, the DFO said.
Malla said North Tripura has the highest number of agar trees at 1 crore, and agarwood-based activities are mainly concentrated at Kadamtala in Dharmanagar subdivision.
“The agar-based businesses are going well, with one market already made operational. It has good potential, and as far as value addition is concerned, we have to go a long way,” he added.
Around 15 agarwood factories are actively operational at Kadamtala.
The Tripura government declared an Agar Policy in 2021, which aims to transform the state’s economy through the sector. (PTI)
