India: Crude palm oil output may see quantum jump

The government is aiming to increase domestic crude palm oil (CPO) production from current level of 0.35 million tonne (MT) to 2.3 MT by 2029 under the National Oil Palm Mission.

The plantation area is set to reach a million hectare (Mha) by next few years, from the current level of 0.6 Mha.

An official said several companies, including Godrej Agrovet, Patanjali Food and 3F Oil Palm Agrotech are planning expansion.  Palm plants start yielding oil in 4 years and optimum yield is achieved in the eighth year.

Through expansion of plantations in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Odisha, the aim is to increase fresh fruit bunches (FFBs) to 10.2 MT by 2029 from the current level of 2 MT.

“Recent oil palm cultivation under the oil palm mission will start producing fresh fruit bunches, the main raw material for palm oil production, in the next 4-5 years,” an official said.

The agriculture ministry has integrated all the oil palm companies using application programming interfaces (APIs) and geo-mapped the plantation.

The palm oil plantation is expanded through intercropping with vegetables, pulses and cocoa and collaboration with farmer producer organisations (FPOs).

Over 0.54 Mha of palm plantation are in north eastern states, including Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Nagalanad and Tripura. In August 2021, the national oil palm mission was launched with an investment of Rs 11,040 crore, out of which the Centre’s share is Rs 8,844 crore.

The rest is contributed by the state government for providing viability gap funding and financial assistance for planting material.

According to an assessment by the Indian institute of Oil Palm Research,in 2020 projected potential for palm oil plantation was 2.8 Mha.

The government under the mission has provided price assurance or viability prices to the oil palm farmers to produce fresh fruit bunches (FFB) which has protected farmers against fluctuations in global prices of crude palm oils.

Out of the total plantation, Godrej Agrovet will have  64,000 hectare mostly in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha, Assam and Tripura.

“We will have one of the largest shares in this plantation,” Sougata Niyogi, CEO-oil palm business, Godrej Agrovet, told FE.

Tags: prices, Crude palm oil, Production, cultivation, plantation area