Centre's focus on palm cultivation in NE region
National Mission for Edible Oils - Oil Palm (NMEO-OP) is committed to escalating palm cultivation and elevating Crude Palm Oil production to 11.20 lakh tonnes by 2025-26.
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The Government of India is emphasizing on palm cultivation in the North-East region to make it self-reliant in the production of edible oils. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has emphasized on the cultivation of oil palm in the North-East region to move towards self-reliance in edible oil production. Emphasis has been laid on the importance of farming.
According to the release issued by the Ministry of Agriculture, "India is currently a net importer of edible oil. 57% of the total edible oil in the country is imported from various countries. Import of edible oils has a negative impact of $ 20.56 billion on our foreign exchange. Therefore, it has become more important for the country to become self-reliant in the production of edible oil by promoting oilseeds and palm oil."
During his recent visit to Arunachal Pradesh, Prime Minister Modi inaugurated the first oil mill under Mission Palm Oil. On this occasion, he said, "Mission Palm Oil will make India self-reliant in the edible oil sector and increase the income of farmers." He expressed gratitude to the farmers for cultivating palm.
The central government launched the National Edible Oil Mission – Oil Palm (NMEO-OP) in August 2021, under which the target is to increase crude palm oil production to 11.20 lakh tonnes by 2025-26. The scheme is operational in 15 states, covering a potential area of 21.75 lakh hectares. Under NMEO-OP, a provision of Rs 5,870 crore has been made for the promotion of palm oil out of the total national budget of Rs 11,040 crore, especially for the North-Eastern region. The central government will contribute 90 percent of this.
So far, 111 nurseries with a capacity of 1 crore planting material have been established under the mission and 12 seed gardens with a capacity of 1.2 crore planting material have been established. Palm oil is produced in six northeastern states – Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura. There is a huge potential area of 8.4 lakh hectares for palm oil production in these states.
Special assistance of Rs 1 lakh per hectare is given to farmers under NMEO-OP for providing planting material, management and resolution of land related-challenges (land clearance, half-moon terrace construction, bio-fencing) faced by NER farmers. Apart from this, an assistance of Rs 2.90 lakh is being given to the farmers for the purchase of harvesting equipment. An assistance of Rs 25 lakh has been provided for the establishment of Custom Hiring Center (CHC).
