1.4
OILPALM
Oil palm, highest yielder of vegetable oil, was initially
introduced in the country in Kerala and Andman & Nicobar Islands. Subsequently, under
the aegies of TMOP&M, cultivation of oil palm was extended through the centrally
sponsored Oil Palm Development Programme (OPDP) to other potential areas in the states of
Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamilnadu, Orissa, Gujarat and Goa since 1992 onwards. Though
the programme was also sanctioned for Assam and Tripura but no tangible progress was made
in these two states upto Nineth Plan. Under OPDP, an area of 59229 ha was planted during
the period from 1992 to 2003. However, uprooting of the palms took place in some areas due
to sharp decline in domestic edible oil prices due to huge imports of edible oils at
cheaper prices during 1999 to 2002 and lack of processing back up in some of the states.
To support the oil palm development programmes, following
infrastructure and other facilities have already been created:
a.
Seed
gardens with a production capacity of producing 1.5 million seed sprouts alongwith
nurseries set up by the entrepreneurs.
b.
Processing
capacity to the extent of 110.5 tonnes FFB per hour (i.e. 5.525 lakh tonnes FFB per annum
@ 20 hr.x250 days running).
c.
Leaf
analysis laboratory.
d.
National
Research Centre for Oil Palm to provide requisite research support to the crop development
programmes. |
