India is one of the largest producers and consumers of edible oils and fats in the world. It contributes to about 7–8% of the world’s oilseeds and 6–7% of the global vegetable oils and is the fifth largest edible oil economy in the world. Even though India occupies a prominent position in the global oilseed production, its average yield for major oilseeds is 40–60% below the world average and has been growing at a slow pace. India is having rich agroecological diversity and is ideally suited for growing all major oil seed crops. It is reported that India excessively import edible oil such as palm oil from Malaysia and Indonesia and soybean oil from Argentina because the average yield of many of these oil seed crops is very low, compared to other crops like palm oil. This stressful situation is further aggravated by some traders who indulge in malpractices of adulteration of these oils with cheaper oils and synthetic colors for economic benefit. This chapter discusses the state-of-the-art of crop management and processing of palm oil, which is considered as the future crop.

Palmyrah neera (inflorescence sap) is susceptible to natural fermentation at ambient temperature within a few hours of extraction due to enzymatic and microbial activity. Once fermented, neera becomes toddy which is unsuitable as a health drink or as a value-added product. Therefore, a study was carried out to investigate the influence of different packing materials and storage conditions on the shelf life and to keep the quality of palmyrah neera. The experiment was conducted in a completely randomised factorial design with two factors at unequal levels replicated thrice. HDPE 50 micron pouch (P1), PET bottle (P2) and glass bottle (P3) and cold storage at 2 oC (S1), cold storage at 4 oC (S2) and refrigerated storage (8-10 oC) (S3) were the packing material and storage conditions respectively used during experimentation. Physio-chemical properties viz., total soluble solids, pH and reducing sugars showed an increasing trend up to the 4th week of storage. At the same time, phenols, titrable acidity and alcohol content increased up to the 6th week of storage. Maximum total soluble solids (10.80 oBrix), reducing sugars (5.76%), minimum phenolic content (0.323 mg) and titrable acidity (1.116%) were recorded when palmyrah neera was packed in HDPE 50 micron pouch, whereas the maximum total soluble solids (10.83oBrix), reducing sugars (5.75%), minimum phenolic content (0.322 mg) and titrable acidity (1.14%) were recorded when palmyrah neera was stored at 2 oC. Among the different packing material and storage conditions, HDPE 50 micron and storage at 2 oC was effective in extending the shelf life and quality attributes of palmyrah neera.