'A disaster in the making': Expansion of oil palm plantations in Northeast India

By Rupa Chinai, Ravi Chellam* 
Until a few decades ago, India was nearly 100% self-sufficient in edible oils, with a diverse variety of oilseeds that were grown and consumed sustainably in keeping with the ecological and climatic conditions of different regions in the country. Today, India is highly reliant on palm oil imports to meet its vegetable oil demands. 

Palm oil is an exceptionally versatile vegetable oil and is used not only in food but also in products ranging from chocolate to shampoo, and also as a biofuel. India is the largest global consumer of palm oil and accounts for over 20% of the palm oil used worldwide. Currently, India imports a massive 99% of its palm oil, mainly from Indonesia and Malaysia. 

A significant shortfall in palm oil production has prompted the government’s push for vegetable oil security under the banner of the National Mission on Edible Oil–Oil Palm (NMEOOP). The NMEO-OP aims to place an additional 1.32 million hectares of land under oil palm cultivation in India by 2030. An area that is larger than the entire state of Tripura.
The priority regions earmarked for oil palm expansion are the Northeast Indian states and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Both these regions together encompass three Global Biodiversity Hotspots, host a multitude of species that are globally threatened, range-restricted or endemic, and continue to retain some of the most extensive tracts of forest in India. 

These forests are crucial for biodiversity, climate resilience and protecting the interests of indigenous cultures, their lifestyles and livelihoods. Because of their ecological and cultural significance, both these regions should be No-Go areas for oil palm cultivation. In Northeast India, oil palm plantations have already been established in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. In Mizoram, entire districts such as Kolasib and Mamit have been designated for oil palm cultivation.

Mizoram’s experience with oil palm cultivation has been disastrous. Jhum cultivation (or shifting cultivation) landscapes have been classified by the government as “wasteland” and replaced with oil palm plantations despite indigenous communities relying on them for food and non-food produce (timber, bamboo, medicinal plants). 

Oil palm plantations have left the soil infertile and alarmingly depleted the water resources. Infrastructure for transportation and milling is non-existent, and the crop is left to rot either on the tree or on the ground after harvest. Farmers have made zero profits from oil palm, and efforts to replace oil palm with other crops have failed because of depleted soil nutrients and decreasing water availability. 

The three companies involved with oil palm cultivation in Mizoram; Godrej, 3F, and Ruchi Soya (the last now owned by Patanjali), have faced no accountability for the failure of the crop in the state. In Nagaland, farmers are wary of cultivating oil palm because of grossly inadequate water supply, loss of crop to rodents and the lack of buyers for produce, despite government assurances.

No state in Northeast India should opt for oil palm plantations as a source of revenue or horticultural development for the following reasons (as demonstrated by the Mizoram experience):
➤ Shifts in land tenure systems: Oil palm cultivation tends to shift land tenure from community-owned to privately held. The power of Gram Panchayats and other village-level and community-based councils to manage their own lands will pass to companies. In effect, land will become “locked” under oil palm, and communities will then have no say in land management. 

This is a uniquely Northeast Indian problem, where due to special constitutional protections under the 6th Schedule or Article 371 series, land ownership and management are primarily in the hands of the community, with the strength of protective provisions varying in different states. 

This is unlike the rest of India where land is owned privately or by the government. Land tenure moving into private hands has already happened in Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea and in a few peninsular Indian states, where tribal communities have lost their lands, and people have no choice but to work as labourers on oil palm plantations in their own land.
➤ Northeast India is climatically unsuited for oil palm cultivation: Maps of areas suitable for cultivating oil palm in India published by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) show that over 90% of Northeast India is simply unsuitable for oil palm cultivation (except southern areas of Tripura and Mizoram). The Northeast’s hilly terrain means that oil palm plantations in this region will invariably fail.
Northeast India lacks the infrastructure to grow and process oil palm: Even if Northeast India was climatically suited to oil palm cultivation, there would still be serious concerns:
(i) Irrigation. Each oil palm plant requires 250-300 litres of water per day. Northeast India is monsoonal, with most rainfall in only four months. Where will the water that is needed to cultivate oil palm come from?
(ii) Transportation and milling. Once harvested, the fresh fruit bunches of the oil palm have to be processed within 48 hours, or the oil milled from the fruit is not fit for human consumption. This requires efficient transportation facilities to oil palm mills, both of which currently do not exist in the region.
➤ Forest and biodiversity loss: In most Northeastern states, oil palm plantations will replace natural or semi natural (e.g., jhum) landscapes. There remains the possibility that state governments (like in Mizoram) will declare highly productive jhum landscapes as “wasteland” to encourage conversion to oil palm. The conversion of natural/semi-natural habitats to monoculture plantations will have worrying long-term consequences to the environment as well as the lives of the local communities:
(i) The replacement of landscapes with diverse benefits (medicinal plants, timber, bamboo and non-timber forest products, diversity of food crops) into labour-intensive monoculture cash cropping systems will negatively impact food security.
(ii) Loss of forests: Northeast India is set to be one of the worst-hit regions in the world by climate change and climate-driven extreme events such as massive floods and severe droughts. Forests are an important buffer against such events, especially in the context of watershed services and water security.
➤ Environmental sustainability issues: Oil palm cultivation is very chemical intensive, requiring the application of large quantities of fertilizers and pesticides. This leaves soil and freshwater health severely compromised, prevents the cultivation of other crops in the vicinity of oil palm plantations, and makes the conversion of oil palm back to legacy crops exceptionally difficult.
As with Mizoram and some of the peninsular states, it is improbable that farmers and indigenous communities are informed of the risks and potentially disastrous consequences of cultivating oil palm. The government and oil palm companies (such as Patanjali) will, in all likelihood, emphasise subsidies provided to grow oil palm (which are considerable) and the potential short-term gains. 

The economic advantages of oil palm cultivation are publicised without warnings about changes in land tenure, the environmental impacts, labour costs, the use of chemicals and the depletion of water resources, and the fact that oil palm is simply unsuited to Northeast India’s terrain, climate, ecology, available infrastructure, and the culture of the region. 

Mizoram’s disastrous entanglement with oil palm cultivation should serve as a cautionary tale for other Indian states especially in the Northeast.

Do watch:

• Oil palm plantations and conflicts with communities in Indonesia:

•  Dampa Hmathlir: Thinking About the Future:

Further reading:

• Expanding oil palm plantations in the Northeast could exact a long-term cost
• No country for women: The dark side of palm oil production in Mizoram
• How palm oil from Malaysia fired the Patel agitation in Gujarat
• Oil palm push in the northeast may impact biodiversity, water table, say experts
• Cabinet approves measures to increase oil palm area, production in India
• Oil palm in India’s northeast: economy versus ecology
• Oil palm push in the northeast may impact biodiversity, water table, say experts
• India's Push for Oil Palm Cultivation Despite Environmental And Economic Concerns
• How ‘Dirty’ is India's Palm Oil and What Should We Do About It?

---

*Rupa Chinai is independent journalist and author; Ravi Chellam is wildlife biologist and conservation scientist