New Delhi: In a bid to reduce the country's dependency on edible oil imports, Union Cabinet has approved a national mission on edible oils and oil palm. Announcing the decision on Wednesday, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said the government will invest Rs 11,040 crore to boost the domestic production under the proposed National Mission on Edible Oil-Oil Palm (NMEO-OP).
Giving more details about the mission, union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar has said the mission would ensure that farmers get all facilities, from quality seeds to technology to promote cultivation of palm and other oil seeds. According to the minister, the mission will help in increasing the acreage under the edible oil cultivation from the existing 3.5 lakh hectare to 28 lakh tonne by 2030.
The mission was unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi early this month after releasing the ninth installment of Rs 19,500 crore to 9.75 crore beneficiary farmers under the government's flagship scheme PM-KISAN. "While India has become self-sufficient or Aatmanirbhar in production of rice, wheat and sugar, but it was not enough as the country is dependent on huge imports of edible oils," Modi said on August 9.
Farmers can replicate what has been achieved in pulses production, which rose almost by 50 per cent in the last six years, he added. "The kind of work we did in pulses, and even in the past in wheat and paddy, we need to make same efforts to boost the domestic production of edible oils," he said, adding that aggressive effort is need of the hour to become self-reliant in edible oil.
Revival package for NERAMAC
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) headed by the Prime Minister has approved a Rs 77.45 crore package for the revival of state-run North Eastern Regional Agricultural Marketing Corporation Ltd. North Eastern Regional Agricultural Marketing Corporation (NERAMAC) is a central public sector enterprise under the administrative control of the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (MDoNER). According to the government, the revival package will help NERAMAC in providing organic seeds to farmers, and post-harvesting facilities to promote the north-east products in the world market.
Industry bodies welcome the mission
Industry bodies COOIT and OPDPA have welcomed the edible oil mission saying assistance to farmers and other stakeholders will help in increasing the acreage. According to Central Organization for Oil Industry and Trade (COOIT) President Babulal Data, this new mission is a step in the right direction. "The decision to compensate farmers of oil palm in case the prices fall below minimum support price and enhancement of input subsidy from Rs 12,000 per hectare to Rs 29,000 per hectare will encourage farmers to undertake cultivation of oil palm," Babulal Data told PTI. It is also important that oil palm plantation is provided industry status and FDI is also allowed, he added.
Echoing his views, Oil Palm Developers and Processors Association (OPDPA) President Sanjay Goenka has said that it is a landmark reform as years of efforts of farmers, industry, and economy have come to fruition. "OPDPA as the nodal agency has been relentlessly pursuing the government to bring about reforms in the sector to help create a sustainable environment for the farmer and the industry — be it the pricing mechanism or other subsidy measures towards increasing the crop cultivation," said Goenka.
