#4 Oil Palm comes to town
India’s Oil Mission : Development or Degradation for the Northeast & the Andamans?
India’s goal to become “atma-nirbhar in edible oils” may sound lofty. However, with the kind of environmental damage that palm oil has brought to its top producers in Southeast Asia, this mission may prove to be disastrous in the long term.
Atma-nirbhar mission for palm oil
This Independence Day, PM Modi announced a new scheme called the National Mission on Edible Oils-Oil Palm (NMEO-OP) to make India “atma-nirbhar” for its edible oil needs. It has an outlay of Rs.11040 crore, and will promote palm oil production in the country with a special focus on the Northeast and the Andaman & Nicobar islands.
An article by The Print reports, “This scheme will offer cultivators a fixed price on the lines of the minimum support price (MSP). In case of market volatility, farmers will be paid the price difference for their produce via direct benefit transfer (DBT).”
Wait a minute, isn’t this the same government that has refused to guarantee an MSP on key crops for the agitating farmers? So, why is it providing a “freebie” for oil palm, a produce that is widely acknowledged to be associated with environmental degradation?
What is the problem with palm oil?
The main issue with palm is where it grows. It is a perennial, water-intensive crop; the land suited for palm oil plantation often coincides with the world’s most biodiverse rainforests.
Palm oil plantations may look like lush green forest, but they provide no food and habitat to the wildlife in the area. Palm oil plantations in Southeast Asia have resulted in large-scale deforestation and loss of habitat for many large mammalian species like orangutans, elephants, and Sumatran rhinos. Forest land is cleared, often by means of burning, resulting in a yearly transboundary haze in the region. The oil extraction process also generates effluents with high amounts of organic matter that pollutes the local water bodies.
The Oil Palm Mission is promoting this produce in the Northeast and the Andaman and Nicobar islands, which are India’s last remaining swathes of tropical forests rich in biodiversity. As per reports, this oil mission was cleared despite objections raised by ICFRE, an autonomous institute under the Environment Ministry, that submitted a report to the Supreme Court stating that the oil palm should be avoided in biodiverse areas including grasslands without an extensive study on its ecological impacts.
So why is India trying to promote its farmers to grow palm oil?
The explanation given is that India is the largest importer of palm oil in the world. With increasing GDP, India’s demand for edible oils has been increasing year over year. Palm oil is high yield and cheap as compared to other oilseeds, and is widely used by junk food and packaged food industry, and the country does not want to stay dependent on palm oil imports.
The logic is unsound from the perspective of environment and economics. What is the environmental cost to the country by promoting oil palm? Is it worth cutting our last remaining forest to grow palm oil? From an economics standpoint, why should the government subsidize palm oil while neglecting other less water-intensive, indigenous oil seeds that grow locally and in more diverse conditions?
Palm oil will cause deforestation, and the government knows it
It is not the case that the government is unaware about the widespread deforestation associated with palm oil. In fact, it knows this and has amended the regulation specifically to make way for it.
In 2019, the government modified the guidelines that will now allow states with more than 75% forest land to divert forest land for non-forestry purposes, and conduct compensatory afforestation in other states. Compensatory afforestation has been widely believed to be unsuccessful and a sham exercise in India. Allowing states to shift it to another state will make it almost impossible to monitor it.
Mongabay reports, “According to India’s State of Forest Report 2017, states with majority of their geographical area under forest cover include Arunachal Pradesh (79.96 percent), Goa (60.21 percent), Kerala (52.30 percent), Manipur (77.69 percent), Meghalaya (76.45 percent), Mizoram (86.27 percent), Nagaland (75.33 percent), Tripura (73.68 percent), Andaman and Nicobar Islands (81.73 percent) and Lakshadweep (90.33 percent).”
It is evident from the list that this is a policy custom-made to make deforestation possible in the Northeast and the Andaman & Nicobar Islands.
Long term viability of Oil Palm in India
Now, this push towards increasing palm oil production in India is not new. There have been similar policies brought in 2011-2012 to promote oil palm in the country, but production has taken off at scale only in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. This is not a crop for a small farmer to invest in, as there is a waiting period during which the farmer has to forgo his earnings completely. As the majority of farmers have small farm holding, they do not have the option to wait for 6-7 years without any income. Palm oil plantations also generate large quantities of waste residue in the form of empty kernels. All of this makes it unsuitable for a small farmer to grow.
Second big factor against the long term viability of oil palm in India is that it is a water guzzler. Oil palm is perennial and needs water throughout the year. With increasing scarcity of water and pressure on groundwater, is this the crop India should invest in for the long term? Other indigenous oilseeds like mustard or safflower grow in drought prone areas and are less resource intensive and more sustainable in the long term.
So, how does this all add up?
Who benefits from Mission Oil Palm?
Well, things will clarify when you ask this critical question - “Who benefits from this policy?”
There is no need to make any guesses. Ruchi Soya, acquired by Baba Ramdev, has already announced plans to start palm oil plantations in Assam, Tripura and other Northeast states.
The chronology is explained well by @sidagarwal on this twitter thread.
Some may say, well, what is wrong with the government ensuring that there are refineries and business ecosystems built around palm oil - it only helps to make it viable. Well, yes and No. Yes, because governments do have a role to play in encouraging infrastructure around agriculture - like warehousing, transport and post-processing facilities in the region. And No, because governments should not be doing gymnastics with environment regulation only to promote an otherwise unsustainable and polluting cash crop. It should definitely not be providing a price guarantee for such a crop.
Due to vastly different climate and water availability, it is unlikely that India can meet all its palm oil consumption by domestic production. It is the proverbial “khayali pulao” and with the high environmental costs, it is not even a goal worth pursuing. If anything, we should reduce our consumption of palm oil, which is not particularly healthy. The market is very price sensitive and bulk users have slowly shifted to palm oil without their customers even noticing. Unlike the EU, where major brands are becoming conscious (due to consumer awareness) about the source of their palm oil, Indians are not even aware that what they are consuming is palm oil.
While writing this article, I ran a quick check on the labels of all the snacks at my home - Haldiram, Kurkure, Parle G. Everything has palm oil. Do I wish to eat palm oil? No. If I ask my mother, will she ever knowingly purchase palm oil? No. Most of us look down upon “vanaspati” or “dalda” as unhealthy. I see an opportunity for local brands in my hometown to fashion their USP “we fry our fafdas in shuddha sing-tel (groundnut oil)”. Maybe, instead of writing this article, I should just float some whatsapp forwards on the conspiracy of how “videshi” vanaspati is stealthily taking over our “desi” mustard, groundnut, kardi and coconut. The nation wants to know - “Can’t the citizens pay 50 Rs. more for our desi tel?”. Hmm.. I am sure it will sway more people than this article.
References:
The Print: To make India ‘atmanirbhar’ on palm oil, Modi govt approves separate National Mission
HT: Cabinet nod for ₹11,040cr scheme to boost oil palm farming
Mongabay: Govt modifies compensatory afforestation rules for ease of business
Indian Express: Oil palm mission: Govt cleared despite red flags by top forestry institute
Scroll.in: With few takers for safflower oil, farmers are moving away from this healthy, hardy crop
Livemint: Ramdev’s Ruchi Soya to start palm oil plantations in North East
Mongabay: As India eyes domestic palm oil growth environmental concerns take a backseat
Down To Earth: Andaman & Nicobar wants to take a reverse gear on oil palm