28.05.2019 (Cogencis) - NEW DELHI – The government is likely to fix the fair remunerative price of fresh fruit bunches of oil palm grown in the country to ensure better realisations to farmers and boost domestic palm oil production, a senior official said today.

"Centre is mulling over FRP (fair remunerative price) of fresh fruit bunches of oil palm. An FRP would encourage farmers to add more area under oil palm plantations," the official said. Oil palm, a tropical oilseed, is crushed to produce palm oil.

Fair and remunerative price is the Centre-mandated minimum price that mills have to pay farmers for their crop.

Currently, the market price of fresh fruit bunches is 8,000-9,000 per tn, the official said.

The government aims to reduce reliance on hefty palm oil imports by boosting output of home-grown oil palm fruit, the official said.

India, the world's largest importer of palm oil, buys 8-9 mln tn annually from Indonesia and Malaysia, the world's top producers.

Currently, oil palm trees cover 325,000 ha across the country, and this might increase to 350,000 ha in 2019-20 (Apr-Mar), the official said, adding that the government aims to primarily increase the area in coastal areas and the northeast.

Of the total area under oil palm, fruit-bearing trees cover only 225,000 ha.

At present, India produces 200,000 tn of oil palm annually, way lower than the domestic requirement, he said.

With new plantation, production might increase in the next four to five years, which is the gestation period of the oil palm tree, he said.

India has six indigenous seed gardens in Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka, and they produce potential sprouts every year. The government has sourced technology from Malaysia, Indonesia and Costa Rica to plant the oilseed in the country, the official said.

Palm oil accounts for over 60% of India's total edible oil imports of around 15 mln tn.  End