The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the National Mission on Edible Oils —Oil Palm (NMEO-OP), a new centrally sponsored scheme, with a financial outlay of Rs 11,040 crore to promote the domestic cultivation of oil palm in the next five years, and reduce the country’s dependence on edible oil imports.
The decision comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the new central scheme on August 15 during his Independence Day speech at Red Fort. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Wednesday approved a Rs 77.45 crore package for the revival of state-run North Eastern Regional Agricultural Marketing Corporation Ltd.
“A financial outlay of Rs 11,040 crore has been made for the scheme, out of which Rs 8,844 crore is the Government of India share and Rs 2,196 crore is State share and this includes the viability gap funding also. Under this scheme, it is proposed to cover an additional area of 6.5 lakh hectare (ha.) for oil palm till the year 2025-26 and thereby reaching the target of 10 lakh hectares ultimately. The production of Crude Palm Oil (CPO) is expected to go upto 11.20 lakh tonnes by 2025-26 and upto 28 lakh tonnes by 2029-30,” Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said while addressing a press conference after the Cabinet meeting.
“Due to the heavy dependence on imports for edible oils, it is important to make efforts for increasing the domestic production of edible oils in which increasing area and productivity of oil palm plays an important part,” Tomar said.
Regarding farmers’ fear of price fluctuation, he said that the Centre will fix the cost of raw materials needed for palm oil production. “Like MSP (minimum support price) … we will fix the price of this raw material (cultivated by farmers)… This will motivate the farmers, and in case prices of the raw material crops drop, the Government will pay the differential amount to farmers through DBT (direct bank transfer),” he said.
The centrally-backed scheme will also help to increase the capital investment in the oil-producing ecosystem in India. Along with that, it will also generate employment and increase income of farmers.
To address the issue of shortage of planting material in the country, seed gardens will be provided assistance up to Rs 80 lakhs for 15 hectare in rest of India and Rs 100 lakhs for 15 hectare in North-East and Andaman regions.