The 2030 vision document of the Directorate of Oil Palm Research, under the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR), aims to expand India’s oil palm cultivation to 10 lakh hectares. The Union Cabinet in 2021 allotted Rs11,040 crore to meet this target. In 2023, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced and allotted Rs 1,500 crore for the purpose. Of this, the National Mission on Edible Oils-Oil Palm (NMEO-OP) program received Rs 900 crore while the Edible Oil-Oilseeds program received Rs 600 crore, as per the Budget 2022-23 allocation for the Agriculture Ministry.
Earlier in August 2021, the government had launched the National Mission on Edible Oils-Oil Palm (NMEO-OP) to augment the availability of edible oil in the country by harnessing area expansion and through price incentives in view of the enormous potential for cultivation of oil palm and production of CPO. Currently, only 3.70 lakh hectares is under oil palm cultivation. The scheme aims to cover an additional area of 6.5 lakh hectares for oil palm till 2025-26 and thereby reach the target of 10 lakh hectares ultimately.
However, the exotic crop is being promoted in India, including Nagaland, disregarding the stories of ecological devastation and loss in Malaysia, Indonesia and elsewhere. It is reported that the disapproval by Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE) with regard to growing them on bio-diverse regions too has not stopped the crop from entering such locales in India. Despite the Supreme Court ban against further expansion of oil palm in the biodiverse region of Andaman & Nicobar, imposed in 2002, deforestation has already started to bring more area under the oil palm. Expanding oil palm cultivation in Andaman & Nicobar Islands, an ecologically fragile archipelago, is part of the Rs 11,000 cr National Mission on Edible Oils – Oil Palm (NMEO-OP) plan announced by PM Modi in 2021.
It is heartening to learn that Meghalaya will not allow oil palm cultivation due to a general opinion against it. Nagaland has already signed MoU with corporate giants Patanjali Foods and Godrej Agrovet Limited for oil palm cultivation. While oil palm is a highly productive crop that can provide a source of income for farmers, its cultivation has been linked to a number of environmental problems, such as deforestation, soil erosion, and water pollution. It can also have negative impacts on local communities, such as displacement and loss of access to natural resources. It is hoped that all the potential benefits and risks have been weighed before the Nagaland government made the decision.
Or, could it be that it was only to attract some cut from the Rs 900 crore allotted for the National Mission on Edible Oils-Oil Palm (NMEO-OP) program? For this once, the Nagaland government might be forgiven for oiling the palm in the oil palm program.