Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh has launched the Oil Palm Project through video conferencing.
- Oil Palm Mission Manipur was constituted in August 2020 with the Joint Director of Agriculture as Mission Director and a sub-committee was also constituted.
- Oil Palm cultivation is suitable in warmer region and the state government has identified 66,652 hectares areas in Chandel, Churachandpur, Imphal West, Bishnupur, Ukhrul and Thoubal districts.
- The state government had initially targeted to cultivate the oil palm on 200 hectares of land and procured seeds from Mizoram and Andhra Pradesh from the Central funding.
- The oil palm cultivation could be an alternative to jhum and poppy cultivation as oil palm is the highest vegetable oil yielding perennial crop with and effective income generation to farmers and beneficial to the environment as well.
About Oil Palm in India
- Oil Palm starts producing Fresh Fruit Bunches (FFBs) after 4 years of its planting.
- Oil Palm Development Programme (OPDP) in India was launched during 1999-2000 under the “Technology Mission on Oil Seeds and Pulses (TMOP) with a focus on area expansion. From 2004-05 onwards the scheme is being implemented as part of the “Integrated Scheme of Oil Seeds, pulses, Oil Palm and Maize (ISOPOM).
- Now the scheme is under National Food Security Mission – Oil Palm (NFSM) since 2018.
- India is one of the major oil seeds grower and importer of edible oils. India’s vegetable oil economy is world’s fourth largest after U.S.A, China and Brazil.
- A substantial portion of our requirement of edible oil is met through import of palm oil from Indonesia and Malaysia.
- The Oil Palm grows best in areas with a mean maximum temperature of 30-32 0C and on an average of at least five hours of sunlight. Oil palm is humid crop and requires a well distributed rainfall of 200 cm per annum.
