According to Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare, the National Mission on Edible Oils - Oil Palm (NMEO-OP) aims to increase the availability of edible oil in the country. With this mission, the government hopes to bring around 10 lakh hectares of land under oil palm cultivation by 2025-26.
Tomar stated in a written reply in Rajya Sabha on Friday that the government has launched the NMEO-OP with the goal of increasing the availability of edible oil in the country through area expansion and increased crude palm oil production. This will reduce India's reliance on imported palm oil.
The Minister stated that the country has around 3.70 lakh hectares of oil palm cultivation and around 287.88 lakh hectares of oilseeds and that the Indian Institute of Oil Palm Research has assessed the potential areas for oil palm cultivation in India at around 28 lakh hectares.
He stated that the NMEO-goal OP's is to increase the area of oil palm planted from 3.70 lakh hectares to 10 lakh hectares by 2025-26.
Andhra Pradesh has the most oil palm cultivation land at 1.84 lakh hectares out of the existing 3.70 lakh hectares. Oil palm cultivation covers approximately 46,954 hectares in Karnataka, 32,982 hectares in Tamil Nadu, 23,130 hectares in Odisha, and 21,382 hectares in Telangana.
Oil palm is grown on an area of approximately 39,259 hectares in the country's north-eastern states. Mizoram is the largest of these states, covering 26,680 hectares.
Oil palm cultivation covers approximately 5,172 hectares in Nagaland, 4,246 hectares in Arunachal Pradesh, and 2,496 hectares in Assam. Oil palm cultivation covers approximately 530 hectares in Tripura and 136 hectares in Manipur.
Palm oil is a perennial crop that yields more than any other oil crop but it also requires three times the water. Therefore it must be grown in areas that receive good rainfall and area that the government is eyeing to establish palm oil plantations in North-Eastern India and the Andaman & Nicobar Islands which are undoubtedly the country’s most biodiversity-rich regions.
