The Union Cabinet on August 18, 2021 gave its approval to launch a new Mission on Oil palm to be known as the National Mission on Edible Oils – Oil Palm (NMEO-OP) as a new Centrally Sponsored Scheme.
NMEO-OP Features
- The scheme has been launched with special focus on the North east region and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
- 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.
- 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.
- For the first time, the Government of India will give a price assurance to the oil palm farmers for the Fresh Fruit Bunches (FFBs). This will be known as the Viability Price (VP). This will be fixed yearly for the oil palm year from 1st November to 31st October.
- A Formula price (FP) will also be fixed which will be 14.3% of CPO and will be fixed on a monthly basis.
- The second major focus of the scheme is to substantially increase the assistance of inputs/interventions. A substantial increase has been made for planting material for oil palm and this has increased from Rs 12,000 per ha to Rs.29000 per ha.
Basic Facts
- The oilseeds production has increased from 275 lakh tons in 2014-15 to 365.65 lakh tons in 2020-21.
- At present only 3.70 lakh hectares is under Oil Palm cultivation.
- Oil palm produces 10 to 46 times more oil per hectare compared to other oilseed crops and has yield of around 4 tons oil per ha.
