India is one of the major edible oil-producing and consuming countries in the world. The Central Government introduced the National Mission on Oilseeds and Oil Palm or NMOOP during the 12th Five Year Plan to support the development and sale.

This scheme aims to boost the production of edible oils and expand the oil palm areas. Keep reading to learn about this scheme in detail.

The NMOOP full form is the National Mission on Oilseeds and Oil Palm, which aims to increase the production of edible oils in India.

India's agricultural environment offers an opportunity to produce nine different oilseeds such as rapeseed, groundnut, niger, castor, sunflower, mustard, sesame, safflower, linseed and soybean.

To streamline the production of these oil forms, the Central Government introduced the NMOOP scheme. The beneficiaries can gain financial aid to maintain oil palm production.

The fund allotted under the National Mission on Edible Oils scheme is distributed between State and Central Governments. This fund released to the Department of Agriculture is shared in a ratio of 75:25.

The state and national levels reserve 1% from this fund to utilise during crisis periods, while 10% is reserved for Flexi-fund.

The primary needs of this scheme are to -

• Facilitate ways to help States meet the production of edible oil and achieve the objectives of NMOOP.
• Support the restoration process during disaster or crisis in the oilseed sector.

Let's learn what the objectives of NMOOP are to understand this scheme better.

Following are objectives of the National Mission on Oilseeds and Oil Palm Scheme.

• It aims to increase the production of edible oils and bring nearly 75,000 hectares of area under palm cultivation
• This scheme plans to promote oil palms in all Northern-Eastern states
• This NMOOP scheme adheres to the demand for new oil palm plantations from imported and native sources
• To assist farmers by providing financial help to manage cost for palms production, planting materials, bore well and irrigation, and purchase harvesting tools
• Purchase Fresh Fruit Bunches from farmers via processing industries and support them through Market Intervention Scheme
• Offer a good price for FFBs when the value of international Crude Palm Oil drops.

This NMOOP scheme also focuses on mini-missions for oilseed production, which has the following features.

This NMOOP scheme is implemented under three mini-missions. These missions have specific features.

• Mini Mission I- It aims to increase production of oilseeds to 35.51 million tonnes in the 12th Plan.
• Mini Mission II- It aims at bringing 1.25 lakh hectare area under oil palm cultivation through area expansion. This mission plans to turn wasteland into a palm plantation and increase Fresh Fruit Brunches' productivity to 15000 kg per ha. It aims to encourage inter-cropping of oilseeds with cereals/pulses and sugarcane.
• Mini Mission III- This mission focuses on tree-borne oilseed or TBOs. It aims at enhancing seed collection of TBOs to 14 lakh tonnes. This scheme also encourages intercropping during the gestation periods.

These are some vital features of the NMOOP scheme. The farmers are beneficiaries of this scheme.

Individuals should read through the NMOOP guidelines to understand this scheme in detail. This will also help them streamline steps to avail benefits without the hassle. In this regard, one can consult a District Agriculture Officer or check the official website.