Towards Edible-Oil Self-Sufficiency
The initiative of National Mission for Edible Oils reflects the government’s commitment to fostering economic growth, empowering farmers, and creating a sustainable and self-reliant ecosystem for edible oil production in India. It stands as a testament to India’s dedication to achieving self-sufficiency in the crucial sector of edible oils.
During his recent visit to Arunachal Pradesh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi underscored India’s self-reliance (Atmanirbharta) in edible oil production.
The Prime Minister highlighted the Mission Palm Oil, a special campaign carried out by the central government with the Northeast in mind and inaugurated the first oil mill under this mission. “Mission Palm Oil will make India Aatmanirbhar in the edible oil sector and boost the income of farmers,” the Prime Minister said, expressing gratitude towards the farmers for taking up palm cultivation.
The Government of India launched the National Mission for Edible Oils – Oil Palm (NMEO-OP) in August 2021. The mission is committed to escalating oil palm cultivation and elevating Crude Palm Oil (CPO) production to 11.20 lakh tonnes by 2025-26. NMEO-OP has provisioned INR 5,870 Cr exclusively for the NER region out of the total national budget of INR 11,040 for the promotion of oil palm, where 90% contribution will be made by the Central government.
The Oil Palm Mission is strategically designed to promote oil palm cultivation in new geographies, providing comprehensive support to farmers. This support includes assistance in planting material, assured buy-back commitments from private players, and protecting farmers from global price volatility by offering a viability gap price to hedge against risks.
The role of the North-Eastern Region (NER) is pivotal in achieving Atmanirbharta in edible oil, as the scope for Oil Palm production spans across six NER states: Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Tripura, encompassing a vast potential area of 8.4 lakh hectares, which is 38% of the national potential. As of now, more than 30 nurseries have been established in the region with the capacity of 30 lakh planting material.
Under the NMEO-OP, special assistance of Rs 1,00,000 per hectare is given to farmers for planting material, management, and to address the topographical challenges (land clearance, half-moon terrace construction, bio-fencing) faced by the NER farmers. The mission is also providing Rs 2,90,000 for the purchase of harvesting tools to farmers for palm oil cultivation.
The Government of India will pay a differential of 2% on the CPO price to farmers considering the tough and difficult terrain of NER. This 2% on CPO price otherwise has to be paid by processors, but to provide a level playing field to processors and motivate them. The government is incentivizing industries by paying the differential in the case of NER.
Besides this, the mission is also promoting private players to invest in the NER for establishing post-harvest processing facilities in the region, where special assistance of Rs 5 crore is allocated for oil palm processing mills in the NER. As of date, 10 new oil mills are proposed to be developed in the NER region.
This visionary initiative reflects the Government’s commitment to fostering economic growth, empowering farmers, and creating a sustainable and self-reliant ecosystem for edible oil production in India. The NMEO-OP stands as a testament to India’s dedication to achieving self-sufficiency in the crucial sector of edible oils.
It may be noted that India is presently a net importer of edible oil, with 57% of the total edible oil being imported from various countries. The insufficiency in edible oil is negatively impacting our FOREX by 20.56 billion USD, making it more important for the nation to become self-sufficient (Atmanirbhar) in the production of edible oil through the promotion of oilseeds and palm oil.
During the visit to Arunachal Pradesh, the Prime Minister of India underscored India’s self-reliance (Atmanirbharta) in edible oil production. Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi highlighted the Mission Palm Oil, a special campaign carried out by the central government with a focus on the Northeast, and inaugurated the first oil mill under this mission. “Mission Palm Oil will make India Aatmanirbhar in the edible oil sector and boost the income of farmers,” the Prime Minister said, expressing gratitude towards the farmers for taking up palm cultivation.
Under NMEO-OP, so far 111 nurseries with the capacity of 1 crore planting material have been established, along with 12 seed gardens with the potential of 1.2 crore planting material for area expansion under the mission.
As has been pointed out above, the Oil Palm Mission has been designed to promote oil palm in new geographies, providing end-to-end support to farmers in terms of assistance in planting material, assured buyback from private players involved, and protecting the farmers from the global price volatility in oil palm by providing viability gap payment (VGP) to hedge farmers’ risk. The government has timely revised the viability price of oil palm from Rs. 10,516 in October 2022 to Rs. 13,652 in November 2023.
Besides the VGP benefit, NMEO-OP also offers special assistance of Rs. 70,000 per hectare to farmers for planting material and management. The mission is also providing Rs. 2,90,000 for the purchase of harvesting tools to farmers for palm oil cultivation and assistance of Rs. 25 lakh for establishing custom hiring centers (CHC).
Processing companies under the mission are also establishing One-Stop Centers for oil palm farmers where they are providing inputs, custom hiring services, farm advisories of good agricultural practices, and collection of farmers’ produce.
