Nalzawl is a village with a population of 449 and 175 houses. The Village which is situated at around 7 km from the National Highway-108 is connected only by a Kutcha Road, this has caused a major setback not only in the agricultural sector but also in the village level development. The village is known for their high production of oilpalm.

Agriculture Scenario

Oil palm and rubber are the major crops cultivated in the village. The warm and humid climatic condition and gentle topography has offered a favourable condition for the growth as well as harvest/handling of oil palm. More than 50% of the population of this village have grown oil palm, as per the respondent, it is estimated that every farmer has around 400 oil palm trees in their agriculture land. One of the main factors that boom the oil palm cultivation in this village is good market linkage. Company (Godrej Pvt.limited) and the farmer have undergone a contract farming, where farmers in the village grow, harvest and transport the harvested oil palm to the stock point and company buy from the stock point. As per the respondent, the farmers sold their harvest at a rate of Rs. 10/kg. In this stock point the company directly weighs using a wooden weighing machine.

NEEDS:

i.Transportation:

All of the harvested oil palm is transported by a vehicle to a Stock Point, which is located at around 10 km from the village near National Highway. Transportation road in this area is mainly a kutcha road which is inaccessible during monsoons and causes a major problem in transporting oil palm. Since there is no support on the cost of transportation, farmers have to pay the transportation cost from their income. Therefore, better roads and transportation facilities will reduce the cost of transportation for the farmers and reduce the post- harvest loss.

ii.Storage or Collection centre:

Post-harvest loss at the stock point is the major concern. The main reason for these losses include:

1. i) Poor handling process: As the harvested oil palm reaches the stock point, unloading is done manually by the farmers, this has caused a huge number of losses in the stock point.
2. ii) Delayed pick-up at collection centre: Due to exposure to rain, sunlight, and exposure to stress due to piling up of weights at the collection centre. There has been cases of quality losses leading to platform rejection. To reduce the post harvest losses and platform rejection, better storage facilities is the need of the hour.

iii. Mechanization:

            One of the major constraints toward cultivation of oil palm is high labour cost. The major reason for higher labour cost is the intricacy of harvesting. Proper land preparation viz,.terracing, contouring, land development coupled with mechanisation will increase the area of cultivation, reduce drudgery in harvesting not only in this village but the whole state.

iv.Crude Oil extraction Unit:

            Due to non-availability of a processing plant located nearby, lots of farmers have faced problems in selling their produce on time and this has caused platform rejection on the harvested oil palm. The only processing plant located nearby is located at Kolasib District which is around 100 km away from the village.