Potential States include Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Nagaland
Morung Express News
Dimapur | August 18
The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 18, approved the implementation of National Mission on Edible Oils – Oil Palm (NMEO-OP) as a new Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) with a special focus on the North East and the Andaman region.
With a financial outlay of Rs 11,040 crore (Rs 8,844 crore as Government of India (GoI)’s share and Rs 2,196 crore as States’ share), the CSS will focused on increasing area and productivity of oilseeds and Oil Palm, informed an official release from the Cabinet Secretariat.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, in a Twitter update informed that the funding pattern of NMEO-OP between GoI and State Government is 60:40 in case of General States and 90:10 in case of NE & Hilly States.
The mission is under implementation in the potential States - Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Gujarat, Karnataka, Odisha, Mizoram, Nagaland, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, it added.
Proposal: As per the Cabinet Secretariat’s release, since 1991-92, many efforts made by the GoI have increased from 275 lakh tons in 2014-15 to 365.65 lakh tons in 2020-21.
In 2020, the Indian institute of Oil Palm Research (IIOPR) in an assessment also highlighted huge potentialities for oil palm plantation at around 28 lakh hectare (ha), while only 3.70 lakh hectares are cultivated presently, it said.
With subsequent potential for producing Crude Palm Oil (CPO) and as around 98% of CPO is being imported, the proposed scheme is aimed at further increasing the plantation area as well as oil production. It will subsume the current National Food Security Mission-Oil Palm programme, it added.
Under the scheme, an additional area of 6.5 lakh ha is proposed to be covered for oil palm till the year 2025-26 and thereby reaching the target of 10 lakh ha ultimately, the release informed.
The scheme will immensely benefit the oil palm farmers, increase capital investment, create employment generation, and reduce the import dependence, it maintained.
Two major focus areas: Under the scheme, the Government of India ‘for the first time’ will give a price assurance to the oil palm farmers for the Fresh Fruit Bunches (FFBs), from which oil is extracted.
Known as the Viability Price (VP), it would protect the farmers from the fluctuations of the international CPO prices and protect them from the volatility as the FFBs’ prices are linked to those fluctuations, the release said.
This VP shall be the annual average CPO price of the last 5 years adjusted with the wholesale price index to be multiplied by 14.3 % and fixed yearly from November 1 to October 31, it added, saying that the assurance will inculcate confidence among the farmers to go for increased area and thereby more production.
Unless extended, the scheme is expected to run (Sunset Clause) till November 1, 2037.
In order to give impetus to the NE and Andaman regions, the GoI will additionally bear a cost of 2% of the CPO price to ensure that the farmers are paid at par with the rest of India, the release said.
The second major focus of the scheme is to substantially increase the assistance of inputs/interventions including planting material for oil palm from Rs 12,000 per ha to Rs 29,000 per ha.
A special assistance of Rs 250 per plant is being given to replant old gardens for their rejuvenation, it added.
To address the issue of shortage of planting material in the country, seed gardens will be provided assistance up to Rs 80 lakhs for 15 ha in rest of India and Rs 100 lakhs for 15 ha in NE and Andaman regions, it informed.
Further special assistance will be provided for the NE and the Andaman regions with special provisions for half moon terrace cultivation, bio fencing and land clearance along with integrated farming.
With the objective of industry to these regions, a provision of Rs 5 crore of 5 mt/hr unit with pro rata (proportional) increase for higher capacity will be given as capital assistance to the industry.
‘Oil palm push’: Under the National Mission on Oilseed and Oil Palm (NMOOP) launched during 2014-15 by GoI, cultivation of oil palm has intensified in Nagaland.
A joint director of Nagaland’s Department of Agriculture, Renphamo Kikon told a local daily in September 2020 that 2000 ha of oil palm has been successfully cultivated in six districts -Dimapur, Mon, Mokokchung, Longleng, Wokha and Peren.
Around the same time, The Hindustan Times in a report noted that experts have expressed concern over the possible impact on biodiversity, water table in NE due to the ‘Oil palm push’ while the online portal The Wire quoted expert saying that it expansion in the region ‘Could Exact a Long-Term Cost.’
“Large-scale conversion of tropical forests to oil palm plantations has a devastating impact on a huge number of plant and animal species” and also leads to an “increase in human-wildlife conflict,” the World Wildlife Fund has stated in its overview of palm oil cultivation.
