PM releases ninth installment of PM-Kisan and pitches for edible oil self-reliance

Source: Indian Express

What is the News?

The Prime Minister of India has released the ninth installment under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi(PM-KISAN) scheme. Moreover, the PM has also announced a new initiative named ‘National Edible Oil Mission-Oil Palm(NMEO-OP)’.

Click here to read about PM-KISAN scheme

About National Edible Oil Mission-Oil Palm(NMEO-OP):

• Aim: The scheme aims to incentivise the production of palm oil to reduce dependence on imports and help farmers cash in on the huge market.
• Under the scheme, oil palm farmers will be provided financial assistance and will get remuneration under a price and viability formula.
• The special emphasis of the scheme will be in India’s north-eastern states and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands due to the conducive weather conditions in the regions.

Note: The government of India has planned to raise the domestic production of palm oil by three times to 11 lakh MT by 2025-26. This will involve raising the area under oil palm cultivation to 10 lakh hectares by 2025-26 and 16.7 lakh hectares by 2029-30.

What was the need of the Mission on Palm Oil?

• India is the world’s biggest buyer of edible oils. India buys more than two-thirds of its total edible oil imports as palm oil.
• In 2016-2017, the total domestic consumption of palm oil by India was 9.3 million MT, with 98.97% of it imported from Malaysia and Indonesia. 
• This means India was domestically producing only 1.027% of its requirement.