58% of potential oil palm acreage identified in five states: ICAR study

Govt says ICAR analysis shows oil palm requires less water than rice, banana and sugarcane; large-scale deforestation a concern

The Centre’s relaunched National Mission for Edible Oil-Oil Palm (NMEO-OP), which entails a total outlay of over Rs 11,000 crore, will look to expand area under oil palm largely in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in the south and Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura in the north-eastern parts of the country.

According to an assessment by the ICAR-Indian Institute of Oil Palm Research (ICAR—IIOPR), out of a total of 2.8 million hectares of land  identified as potential by it in 2020, almost 58 per cent is in these five states, the Centre said in a reply to questions in Parliament.

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