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The Oil Palm Developers and Processors Association (OPDPA) hopes that the launch of the ₹11,000 crore National Edible Oil Mission - Oil Palm (NMEO-OP) would help bring about transformation among farmers across the country in the same way it happened after Andhra Pradesh farmers took to oil palm cultivation a few years ago.
Welcoming the Prime Minister’s announcement of NMEO-OP on Monday, OPDPA said that a strong and robust long-term policy mechanism will give this crop the required push across India.
Also read: National edible oil mission – a long-pending demand of the industry
Sanjay Goenka, President of OPDPA, said that the expanse of oil palm cultivation in the country is very negligible today as compared to the potential the crop possesses. “We have seen the transformation this crop has brought about in the lives of the farmer community in Andhra Pradesh, and we hope to emulate the same in the other potential states as well,” he said, adding oil palm is a highly remunerative crop to the farmer that has the potential to provide the highest return on investment per acre compared to other commercial crops.
Structural policy changes
Stating that the industry is in need of several reforms to maintain its viability and attract further investments in various States of India, he said OPDPA has been aggressively pursuing the agenda with the government to bring in structural policy changes which will greatly propel the industry to new growth levels. With these policy changes and new scheme NMEO-OP, India can truly achieve PM’s vision of ‘Aatmanirbharta’ in edible oils, he said.
India is dependent on imported edible oils, with nearly 15 million tonnes (mt) of edible oils getting imported to meet the country’s annual requirement of about 22 mt. Of the total 15 mt of import, about 9 mt (or nearly 60 per cent) is palm oil and its derivatives.
Aimed at making India self-sufficient in edible oils, NMEO-OP involves an investment of over ₹11,000 crore towards palm oil development.
A press release by OPDPA said that the Centre plans to raise the domestic production of palm oil by three times to 11 lakh tonnes by 2025-26. This will involve raising the area under oil palm cultivation to 10 lakh hectares by 2025-26 and 16.7 lakh hectares by 2029-30. The special emphasis of the scheme will be on India's Northeastern States and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands due to the conducive weather conditions in the regions, it said.
OPDPA is a consortium of companies established to work towards the growth of the oil palm industry.
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