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National Mission on Edible Oils – Oil Palm

Posted on August 19, 2021 by admin1  1700

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  • Recently, the Union Cabinet has given its approval to launch a new Mission on Oil palm to be known as the National Mission on Edible Oils – Oil Palm (NMEO-OP).

Objectives and need 

  • Oil Palm is comparatively a new crop in India and is the highest vegetable oil yielding perennial crop. With quality planting materials, irrigation and proper management, there is the potential of achieving 20-30 MT Fresh Fruit Bunches (FFBs) per ha after attaining the age of 5 years. 
  • Therefore, there is an urgent need to intensify efforts for area expansion under oil palm to enhance palm oil production in the country.
  • Due to the heavy dependence on imports for edible oils, it is important to make efforts for increasing the domestic production of edible oils in which increasing area and productivity of oil palm play an important part.
    • Around 98% of CPO is being imported, it is proposed to launch the Scheme to further increase the area and production of CPO in the country. 
  • It is, therefore, necessary to exploit domestic resources to maximize production to ensure edible oil security for the country. 

National Mission on Edible Oils – Oil Palm (NMEO-OP)

  • It is a new Centrally Sponsored Scheme with a special focus on the Northeast region and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.  
  • A financial outlay of Rs.11,040 crore has been made for the scheme, out of which Rs.8,844 crore is the Government of India share and Rs.2,196 crore is State share and this includes the viability gap funding also.
  • The Mission hopes to increase oil palm acreage by an additional 6.5 lakh hectares by 2025-26 and grow production of crude palm oil to 11.2 lakh tonnes by 2025-26 and up to 28 lakh tonnes by 2029-30.
  • This is the first time the Centre will give oil palm farmers a price assurance, with industry mandated to pay the viability gap funding of 14.3% of crude palm oil prices. 
  •  The proposed scheme will subsume the current National Food Security Mission-Oil Palm programme.
  •  Major focus areas of the Scheme
    • There are two major focus areas of the Scheme. 
  • The oil palm farmers produce Fresh Fruit Bunches (FFBs) from which oil is extracted by the industry. 
  • Presently the prices of these FFBs are linked to the international Crude Palm Oil (CPO) prices fluctuations.  For the first time, the Government of India will give price assurance to the oil palm farmers for the FFBs. This will be known as the Viability Price (VP).   
    • This will protect the farmers from the fluctuations of the international CPO  prices and protect them from volatility.  
  • A Formula price (FP)  will also be fixed which will be 14.3% of CPO and will be fixed on a monthly basis. The viability gap funding will be the VP-FP and if the need arises, it would be paid directly to the farmer’s accounts in the form of DBT.
  •  There is a sunset clause for the scheme which is 1st November 2037.  
  • The second major focus of the scheme is to substantially increase the assistance of inputs/interventions.  
    • A substantial increase has been made for planting material for oil palm and this has increased from Rs 12,000 per ha to  Rs.29000 per ha.
    •  A further substantial increase has been made for maintenance and intercropping interventions.
      •  Special assistance @ Rs 250 per plant is being given to replant old gardens for rejuvenation of old gardens.
    • Special assistance will be provided for the North-East and the Andaman regions in which special provisions are being made for half moon terrace cultivation, bio fencing and land clearance along with integrated farming.   
  • Benefits 
    • The scheme will immensely benefit the oil palm farmers, increase capital investment, create employment generation, shall reduce the import dependence and also increase the income of the farmers.
    • It will reduce the risk for farmers facing price fluctuation of the fresh fruit bunches from which oil is extracted, due to volatility in the international market.
    • The decisions would benefit farmers and make it viable for the industry to continue contributing towards making the country self-sufficient in edible oil requirements and consequently save foreign exchange.

Oilseeds

  • India is one of the major oilseeds growers and importers of edible oils. 
  • India’s vegetable oil economy is the world’s fourth-largest after the USA, China & Brazil. 
  • The oilseed accounts for 13% of the Gross Cropped Area, 3% of the Gross National Product and 10% value of all agricultural commodities. 
    • This sector has recorded an annual growth rate of area, production and yield @ 2.44%, 5.47% and 2.96% respectively during the last decade (1999-2009).
  • Oilseeds cultivation is undertaken across the country in about 27 million hectares mainly on marginal lands, of which 72% is confined to rainfed farming.
  • A substantial portion of our requirement of edible oil is met through the import of palm oil from Indonesia and Malaysia.

Efforts to increase the production of oilseeds and oil palm. 

  • Since 1991-92, many efforts have been made by the Government of India to increase the production of oilseeds and oil palm. 
  • The oilseeds production has increased from 275 lakh tons in 2014-15 to 365.65 lakh tons in 2020-21. 
  •  For harnessing the potential of palm oil production, in the year 2020, an assessment has been made by the Indian Institute of Oil Palm Research (IIOPR) for the cultivation of oil palm which has given an assessment of around 28 lakh ha.
    • There is huge potential in oil palm plantation and subsequently production of Crude Palm Oil (CPO). 
  • National Mission on Oilseeds and Oil Palm (NMOOP)
    • National Mission on Oilseeds & Oil Palm (NMOOP) was launched in 2014-15 and continued up to 2017-18.
    • The expenditure will be shared between Central and State Governments in the ratio of 90:10 for Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram and 60:40 for the remaining States.
      • However, 100% support is being provided to the Indian Institute of Oil Palm Research (IIOPR), Pedavegi, Andhra Pradesh for the supply of planting materials, need-based R&D and extension activities.
    • The objective is to augment the availability of edible oils and reduce the import of edible oils by increasing the production and productivity of oilseeds and oil palm. 

About Palm Oil:

  • It’s an edible vegetable oil that comes from the fruit of oil palm trees, having the scientific name  Elaeis guineensis. 
  • Palm oil is an incredibly efficient crop, producing more oil per land area than any other equivalent vegetable oil crop fulfilling 35% of the world’s vegetable oil demand on just 10% of the land. 
  • Two types of oil can be produced, crude palm oil comes and palm kernel oil, of which crude has more demand. 
  • Palm oil is an extremely versatile oil that has many different properties and is present in nearly 50 per cent packaged. 
  • Palm oil is a major driver of deforestation of some of the world’s most biodiverse forests, destroying the habitat of already endangered species like the Orangutan, pygmy elephant and Sumatran rhino. 

 

Source: PIB

 
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