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Strategic importance of palm oil cultivation in Northeastern States
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Tuesday, 22 October, 2024, 14 : 00 PM [IST]
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Dr Anupam Barik
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Besides launching its National Mission on Edible Oils - Oil Palm (NMEO-OP) in August 2021, the Indian government also recently approved its National Mission on Edible Oils-Oilseeds (NMEO-Oilseeds), which will make India self-sufficient in edible oils by increasing domestic oilseed and oil palm production.
Critics of this far-reaching policy will cry foul, but the truth is India needs “Atmanirbharta” - or self- sufficiency - as India is the largest importer of edible oils in the world, and we are dependent on imports to meet the edible oil requirements, which accounts for 56% of this supply.
As for statistics, during 2022-23, India imported around 165.00 lakh tonnes of edible oils costing around Rs 1,65,000 crore. The northeastern region is pivotal in achieving “Atmanirbharta” as the scope for oil palm production spans across states that include Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Tripura.
To understand the background of the National Mission on Edible Oil (NMEO)-Oil Palm (NMEO-OP), the initiative was launched to promote oil palm cultivation to make the country self-reliant in edible oils with a special focus on northeastern states and Andaman & Nicobar Islands. The mission aims to bring an additional area of 6.5 lakh ha under oil palm plantation with 3.28 lakh ha in northeastern states and 3.22 lakh ha in the rest of India in the next five years from 2021-22 to 2025-26. Under NMEO-OP, the cost will be split 60:40 between the Central and the State Government for general states and 90:10 for NE states and UT, 100% for central agencies.
The mission is also encouraging the participation of private companies to invest in the northeast region to establish post-harvest processing facilities, where special assistance of Rs 5 crore will be allocated for oil palm processing mills. Before NMEO_OP one mill was established in Mizoram and one new mill have been established in Ar Pradesh recently under NMEO-OP and 10 new mills have been sanctioned to NE states under NMEO-OP.
There is immense scope for growth in the northeast region and the progress is already visible on the ground, with more than 35 nurseries having been established in the region with the capacity of 30 lakh planting materials. The Government of India has assessed a total area of 28 lakh hectares in 22 states covering 284 districts including 9.62 lakh hectares for the northeast consisting of seven states and 49 districts fit for oil palm cultivation in the country.
The areas were identified across the country by ICAR-IIOPR in 2020 after considering the ecological, biodiversity and socio-economic impact, environmental, deforestation, soil and climate, rainfall and crop patterns. It is heartening to know that in India, forest lands are not being recommended and used for oil palm cultivation. Only the cultivable land of existing farms is considered for oil palm cultivation mainly as replacement for rice cultivation, and these too are in agro-ecologically suitable regions only. Oil palm is a rapidly expanding profitable crop, particularly in northeastern states under NMEO-OP.
Moreover, potential districts are delineated based on land and climatic conditions, which can produce higher yields of oil palm without any adverse impact on the environment, biodiversity and resources. In case of the rainfed category (especially NE states), the five parameters of rainfall, minimum temperature, elevation, soil depth and length of continuous dry period was considered. Districts with >1800 mm rainfall was separated as rainfed and remaining districts are only considered for irrigated crop.
The government is also taking steps to counter negative campaigns against palm oil, which has slowed down progress of plans for area expansion, especially in northeast states, under the NMEO-OP. Keeping this in mind, a mega plantation drive was initiated during 2023-24, by the Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare (DA & FW) in coordination with the concerned state governments, processors and farmers, covering 3000 ha, by distributing 5.0 lakh seedlings to 7,000 farmers across 80 villages and 50 districts of 11 states including NE states from the end of July to mid-August 2023. Close on the heels of this success, DA & FW planned a similar drive, on a bigger scale, from mid-July 2024 to the end of September 2024 in a bigger way to move forward towards achieving the target of NMEO-OP.
The overall goal of DA & FW is to cover 2.0 lakh ha during 2024-25 under the NMEO-OP pan-India, of which 25% area (50,000 ha) has been targeted under the mega plantation drive of 75-90 days, by distributing 71.50 lakh seedlings including NE states (22,209 ha). As of September 2024, an area of 16,000 ha was brought under mega drive benefiting 16,000 farmers in 11 states by distributing 23 lakh seedlings.
The mega plantation drive was successful in creating mass awareness and building the confidence of oil palm farmers and stakeholders with wide publicity, press coverage and plantation by state representatives and VIPs across 15 states. Among its key objectives was to eradicate the negative image associated with palm oil, specifically in terms of water consumption, environment, biodiversity, health and nutrition. It also brought together experts, farmers, processors, stakeholders, policy makers, and influencers to develop a constructive image and provide evidence-based information to reshape public perceptions.
Meanwhile, in a meeting held between Union Minister for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare and Rural Development, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, and Malaysian Minister for Plantations and Commodities, Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani, in New Delhi on July 28, 2024, India and Malaysia decided to increase bilateral cooperation in the field of palm oil, especially services of research and development, seed supply and partnership management experience to India under NMEO-OP. Both countries will work together to fight the propaganda against palm oil, production and trade of palm oil. India can also learn from Malaysia when it comes to focussing on sustainability, with nearly 83 percent of palm oil refining capacities now operating under a ‘No Deforestation, Peat, and Exploitation (NDPE) commitment. Thus, the northeast is certainly leading the way when it comes to making this visionary initiative a reality, creating a sustainable ecosystem for edible oil production in India.
(The author is former additional commissioner (Oilseeds) Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India)
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