National Mission on Edible Oil-Oil Palm (NMEO-OP) was initiated to increase the availability of edible oil in the country by utilizing the field expansion and increasing crude palm oil production. Its goal is to reduce the burden of imports.
During the year 2020-21, India imported 133.5 lakh tonnes of edible oil. PalmOil’s stake in this was around 56%.
In this plan, a proposal has been presented to increase the area under palm oil to 6.5 lakh hectares by the year 2025-26 and thus eventually meet the target of 10 lakh hectares area.
National Mission on Edible Oil-Oil Palm (NMEO-OP) will subsume the existing National Food Security Mission Oilpalm programme. A provision has also been made in the scheme that after a certain period the rules and regulations will automatically expire. Its date has been fixed as November 1, 2037.
Palm oil requires less water than crops such as rice, banana and sugarcane.
- Price assurance (in the form of viability value) will be provided to palm oil growers for their fresh fruit bunches of palms. Presently the prices of these bunches are related to the volatility in International Crude Palm Oil (CPO) prices.
- Another focus of the plan is to substantially increase support for inputs/interventions (including plantation, maintenance and inter-crop interventions).
- Under National Mission on Edible Oil-Oil Palm (NMEO-OP), special attention will be given to Northeast and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Source – The Hindu
