In news- Recently, the Prime Minister announced a National Edible Oil Mission-Oil Palm (NMEO-OP).
About National Edible Oil Mission-Oil Palm (NMEO-OP)
- The mission aims to boost domestic oilseed production and make the country self-sufficient in cooking oils.
- The NMEO proposal would aim to reduce import dependence from 60% to 45% by 2024-25, by increasing domestic edible oil production from 10.5 million tonnes to 18 million tonnes, a 70% growth target.
- It projected a 55% growth in oilseed production, to 47.8 million tonnes.
- Under this mission, over Rs. 11,000 crore will be invested in the edible oil ecosystem.
- The government will invest this amount via the National Mission on Oilseeds and Oil Palm to provide farmers everything possible, including better seeds and technology
- Under the mission, farmers will get all facilities, from quality seeds to technology to promote farming to produce palm oil and other oil seeds.
- North-eastern states and Andaman and Nicobar Islands could be promoted for palm farming.
Edible oil production & import in India
- India produces less than half of the roughly 2.4 crore tonnes of edible oil that it consumes annually.
- The country has 3 lakh hectares of land under oil palm cultivation, producing around 2.80 lakh tonnes of crude palm oil (CPO) a year. There is a potential to bring 1.9 million hectares of land.
- It imports the rest, buying palm oil from Indonesia and Malaysia, soyoil from Brazil and Argentina, and sunflower oil, mainly from Russia and Ukraine.
- India is the world’s biggest vegetable oil importer.
- India’s vegetable oil imports have surged to 1.5 crore tonnes from 40 lakh only two decades ago and imports could reach 20 million by 2030.
National Mission on Oilseeds and Oil Palm (NMOOP)
India implemented the NMOOP during the 12th Five Year Plan, to expand the oil palm areas and increase the production of edible oils.
The NMOOP was launched under Mini Missions (MM) I, II & III to achieve the following specific targets;
- Under the MM–I, the mission aims to increase the production of oilseeds to 35.51 million tonnes from the current average production of 28.93 million tonnes of oilseeds.
- Under the MM–II, the mission’s target is to broaden the area for oil palm cultivation and boost the production of Fresh Fruit Bunches (FFBs) from 4927 kg/ha to 15,000 kg/ha.
- MM–III envisages to strengthen the seed collection of Tree Borne Oilseeds (TBOs) such as olive, sal, mahua, kokum, wild apricot, Tung, etc., from 9 lakh tonnes to 14 lakh tonnes and provide best planting materials for the expanded areas.
Source: Livemint
