On August 9, Prime Minister, Narendra Modi announced a new national initiative on palm oil production to help increase farm incomes. The scheme named National Edible Oil Mission-Oil Palm (NMEO-OP), for self-reliance in edible oil involves investment of over Rs 11,000 crore. This scheme is essentially to incentivise production of palm oil to reduce dependence on imports and help farmers cash in on the huge market. An audacious plan except for the fact that the areas chosen for this scheme will be India’s north-eastern states and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands due to the conducive weather conditions in the regions.
Earlier, palm oil plantations did not yield the kind of income that farmers expected. To alleviate this fear of price fluctuation the Centre says it will fix the cost of raw materials needed for palm oil production, along the lines of minimum support price. In case prices of the raw material drop, the Government will pay the differential amount to farmers through direct bank transfer. The assistance to oil palm growers for planting material has been increased from ₹12,000 per hectare to ₹29,000 per hectare. This all sounds good except that monoculture is deleterious to bio-diversity. It upsets the natural balance of soils. Too many of the same plant species in one field area rob the soil of its nutrients, resulting in decreasing varieties of bacteria and microorganisms needed to maintain soil fertility. At a time when climate change is threatening to derail our lives, palm oil plantations will only hasten that calamity. As is usual there is much hype that oil palm farmers will be provided financial assistance and will get remuneration under a price and viability formula. The north- eastern states will get 90% assistance from the Centre, hence the quick acceptance of the scheme by Meghalaya’s Chief Minister.
The tall promises by the Centre might entice our farmers here to take to palm oil plantation since they might not be fully informed of the dangers that monoculture poses to this bio-diverse region where almost 65 % of India’s forests reside. It is possible that forests might also be cleared for palm oil tree plantation. That would have disastrous consequences for Meghalaya and the region as a whole. What’s surprising is that a Chief Minister who speaks of climate change and climate justice would readily agree to a disastrous form of agriculture. This may not impact those with plans to take up residence outside the state or abroad but it will have irreversible impacts on those whose lives and livelihoods are tied to this state. Moreover the environment actually encompasses all living beings and not just trees and forests.
