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Wednesday, July 4, 2012

THE PALM OIL DILEMMA-INDIAN ROLE

Two countries which are on the dock for destroying forests at an alarming rate for cultivating commercial crops are Brazil and Indonesia. While sugar cane cultivation is being expanded recklessly after deforestation in Brazil, Indonesia is attracting world-wide criticism for the mindless destruction of its tropical forests for planting Oil Palm. The disastrous consequences of deforestation are well known in the form of increased carbon emissions worsening the global warming problem which is putting this planet on peril. Deforestation also destroys the flora and fauna of the region, hurtling some of them into extinction. The issue has two sides-one linked to the economic well being of people depending on palm cultivation and export of the oil while the other concerns the global community which is seriously worried about the ill-effects of green gas emissions. India has been dragged into this emerging controversy because of its over dependence on imported palm oil from Malaysia and Indonesia. The complexity of the problem is addressed in the following critique though no solution seems to be in sight for overcoming the same.   

"The lush Indonesian rainforest cover is being stripped at an alarming rate for illegal logging and palm oil plantations due to demand for the commodity in India. Companies catering to domestic needs have failed to ensure clean and sustainable source of the cheap palm oil, resulting in the rapid destruction of the rainforest which is home to thousands of plant and animal species, a Greenpeace report has stated. The report 'Frying the forest – how India's use of palm oil is having a devastating impact on Indonesia's rain forests, tigers and the global climate', was released recently in Mumbai. "The issue is that India is the biggest importer of palm oil with imports of 7.2 million tonnes per year. As the world's largest user of palm oil, India has an opportunity and a responsibility to ensure that its purchases of products such as palm oil are coming from responsible sources and aren't linked to rain forest and peat land destruction, and the resulting climate-changing emissions," Nandikesh Sivalingam, Greenpeace forest campaigner, said during the release of the report here. Mr G. Chandrashekar, noted journalist, while releasing the report said that the world cannot survive without palm oil because it is a cheap source of calories, but neither can it afford to destroy its rainforests. He said it was time for oil-producing countries to follow strict rules and regulations to protect the rain forest".

Probably Governments in India during the last 3 decades are to be partially blamed for making the country over-dependent on imported edible oils. This is due to the faulty implementation of policies that would have allowed increased production of oils from sources like groundnut, mustard, sesame, soybean etc for which Indian farmer has the necessary experience. In stead a crop like sugar cane is promoted which has tremendous water requirement and other inputs like chemical fertilizers and pesticides.  The 1990 Oilseed Mission of Government of India, planned and executed with no missionary zeal had flopped wasting millions of rupees without any significant increase in production. The domestic production is almost stagnant during the last two decades while the demand was growing at a frenetic pace. The new certification system by the Greenpeace movement that promotes palm oil produced by sustaining cultivation practices is yet to be accepted universally and blaming India for buying this commodity from those producers who do not have such certification may not be justified. After all as a responsible government, it is its bounden duty to provide adequate food to its citizens and under the present conditions India does not seem to have any option but to continue to import palm oil from where ever it is available in the world market.  

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

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