On August 09, 2021, Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi launched the National Mission on Edible Oil-Oil Palm (NMEO-OP) to make India self-sufficient in edible oil production.
- Objective: To boost domestic oilseed production and make the country self-sufficient in cooking oils.
- The government plans to invest Rs 11,000 crore under NMEO-OP for a 5-year. The mission was launched on the anniversary day of the Quit India Movement.
- India is the world’s biggest vegetable oil importer.
Key Points:
i.Increased Dependency: Due to low production of oilseed, India annually imports 13-15 million tonnes of edible oil (worth Rs 60,000-70,000 crore), in which ~55-60 percent is palm oil.
ii.Hence the mission was introduced to expand the cultivation of oil palm and other traditional oilseed crops by providing quality seeds and technology support to the farmers.
iii.Target of NMEO-OP:
- The government projected to reduce edible oil import dependence from 60 percent to 45 percent by 2024-25.
- A 70 percent growth target was fixed by increasing the domestic edible oil production from 10.5 million tonnes to 18 million tonnes.
- It also plans to increase oil palm cultivation to 1.1 million hectares by 2025-26 and 1.7-1.8 million hectares by 2029-30 (Currently palm is cultivated at less than 0.5 million hectares).
iv.PM also promoted North-eastern India and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands for oil palm cultivation.
v.Oil palm is the highest edible oil yielding plant among perennial oil yielding crops. Palm oil is largely imported from Malaysia and Indonesia.
-PM releases 9th installment of PM-KISAN
On the same day, PM virtually released the 9th installment of financial benefit under Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN). This will enable the transfer of more than Rs 19,500 crores to more than 9.75 crores beneficiary farmer families.
Key Points:
i.So far, Rs 1 lakh 60 crores has been given to farmers under PM-KISAN. Finance of Rs 1 lakh crore and 2 crore Kisan Credit Cards were transferred to small farmers during COVID-19 under PM-KISAN.
ii.Record Procurement on MSP: The government has made the biggest ever purchase from farmers at Minimum support price (MSP) (in both Kharif & Rabi).
- About Rs 1,70,000 crore have transferred directly into the accounts of rice farmers and about Rs 85,000 crore into the wheat farmers.
iii.The production of pulses in India has increased by 50 percent in the last 6 years.
iv.For the 1st time, India has reached among the top-10 countries of the world in terms of agricultural exports.
v.Kisan Infrastructure Fund with Rs 1 lakh crore corpus also completed its one year on August 09, 2021.
- More than 6 thousand projects have been approved under the Infrastructure Fund.
vi.PM remarked the agriculture and farmers’ key role in determining the condition of India in 2047, the year when the country will be completing its 100 years of independence.
Recent Related News:
Indian Government is planning to bring around 9 million hectares of land under Mustard Cultivation & raise Mustard production capacity to around 17 Million Tonnes (mt) by 2025-26 in India.
About Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare:
Union Minister – Narendra Singh Tomar (Constituency – Morena, Madhya Pradesh)
Minister of State – Kailash Choudhary (Constituency – Barmer, Rajasthan), Shobha Karandlaje (Constituency – Udupi Chikmagalur, Karnataka)
