Palm oil is the way to farmers’ ruin

Dilip Patel, Ahmedabad 11 July 2021

Oil from palm fruit is a big blow to Gujarat’s oil production. The price of single oil and cotton oil in Gujarat is barely 800-1200 kg per hectare. Then abroad palm produced is of 5000 to 6000 kg per hectare. Palm oil is cheap because of production. Therefore it is a loss deal for the farmers of Gujarat. If palm oil is imported, then expensive oil is adulterated in it. Gujarat produces 3.6 million tonnes of oilseeds, out of which 40 to 50 percent oil is extracted. Planted in 50 lakh hectares. Out of 58 lakh farmers, 30 lakh are oilseed producers. When palm oil is imported, 30 lakh farmers in Gujarat lose billions of rupees. The central government has once again allowed the import of palm oil, which is likely to harm 30 lakh farmers this year. All oil prices can go down.

India consumes 200 lakh tonnes of oil every year, Gujarat 12 to 15 lakh tonnes. The production of edible oil by farmers in India is 70 to 72 lakh tonnes. Hence India has to import 130 lakh tonnes of edible oil every year. Oil production in India has been declining for the second year in a row when cheaper oil is imported. Because imported oil is cheaper. So the farmers cannot cope with it and they have to bear the loss. Production decreases in the second year.

Foreign farmers prosper

Palm oil is imported from Malaysia and Indonesia. So the farmers of this country are getting rich and India is getting poorer. Palm oil production in India has not been successful. His experiments took place in Gujarat. Not successful either. When palm oil is imported, oils like groundnut, cottonseed, sesame, mustard oil are pressed in Gujarat.

No representation of Gujarat

The reduction in the import of palm oil, which Nitin Gadkari has repeatedly made to the Prime Minister. As imports increase, the farmers of the country become poor. Not a single leader of Gujarat’s BJP, Aam Aadmi Party or Congress can speak in this regard before the central government. The farmers of the country get better prices when there is a fall in the import of palm oil.

Oil crops in Gujarat

In Gujarat, oilseeds, groundnut, castor, sesame, rye, soybean are cultivated in 26 lakh hectares and the production is 61 lakh tonnes. The yield is 2375 kg per hectare. In addition, cottonseed-cotton B contains one million tonnes in 26 lakh hectares. In all, it produces a total of 36 lakh tonnes of oilseeds. Of which 40 to 50 percent is oil.

Palm fruit cultivation in Gujarat

In 1994-95, 40 hectares of palm fruit was cultivated in only 3 districts of Gujarat.

In 2019, it has increased to 4850 hectares in 12 districts. The area under palm cultivation can be increased to 2.60 lakh hectares. Presently only 2% of the area is cultivated. Palm fruit trees can still grow in 98% of the area where the densest trees are. Such a report has been prepared by the Agriculture Department of Gujarat. Although in the world where palm oil plantations have been built, the forests there have been cut down. In Gujarat also forests can be cut.

Farmer ruined by palm

Since the import of palm oil was stopped in 2020, the farmers of Gujarat got good prices for groundnut oil, cottonseed, rye and soybean. Therefore, the government had to buy less of these items at the support price. Which directly benefited the government. Prices of 20 kg groundnut 1100-1300 and soybean 1300-1400 were found.

Investigation report

KL Chanda and P Rethinam committee have prepared a report outlining the potential of palm fruit cultivation in Gujarat. In which cultivation can be done from 5 thousand hectares to 2.60 lakh hectares. Large quantities of palm fruit can be cultivated in Surat, Valsad, Panchmahal on both the banks of Narmada canal. Here are the densest forests. It will be cut only by cutting. Hawk cultivation is being done in Gujarat by companies. Godrej Oil Palm Company extracts oil by cultivating palm fruits in 16 talukas of Valsad, Bharuch, Narmada, Vadodara, Chhotaudpur districts.

Baba Ramdev’s Ruchisoya India Company has established its empire in 20 talukas of Anand, Navsari, Kheda, Panchmahal, Mahisagar districts. Other companies are growing palm oil trees in 19 taluks of Surat, Tapi, Vadodara and Chhotaudpur districts.

In the last three years 2016-17, India had 2.23 lakh saplings and 4 lakh imported plants. One plant gives yield up to 35 years.

Palm oil production

407.47 MT in 2014-15, 522.98 MT in 2015-16, 852.51 MT in 2016-17, 857.03 MT in 2017-18, totaling 2641 MT of palm oil in four years. Price from 5400 to 6300. But with that labor comes a cost of Rs 9940 per tonne.

Forest cutting in Indonesia

There has been massive deforestation to promote palm farming, with satellite clearing showing that between 1985 and 2001, 56 percent of the Kalimantan rainforest was cleared and palm cultivation resumed. So Borneo forest is clearing 1.3 million hectares of land for palm cultivation every year. In Indonesia, palm trees were planted on 600,000 hectares of land in 1985, which increased to 6 million hectares in 2007. a. By 2017, this area had grown to 11.7 million hectares. Indonesia produces 51% of the world’s palm oil needs.

Oil production

Indonesia produced 38.17 million tonnes of crude palm oil in 2017. Although the production of palm kernel oil has reached 3.05 million tonnes. The total palm oil production in 2017 was 41.98 million tonnes, an increase of 18 per cent over 2016.

Can be fried 80 times

The Son University of Malaysia has discovered a new variety of palm. Palm oil made from palm oil and rutaceae is called AFDHL cooking oil. Which can be prepared by frying up to 80 times at a time. Other oils are 85 per cent lower than expected. This lowers the risk of heart disease.

Palm oil import

Palm oil imports have led to a sharp decline in oilseeds production, sales and production capacity of the crushing industry in India. So imports have skyrocketed. Palm oil accounts for 66 per cent of the country’s total edible oil imports. India is the largest importer of palm oil in the world.