Government has on Thursday approved a National Mission on Edible Oils-Oilseeds with an outlay of Rs 10,103 crore to increase domestic oil-oilseeds production and make India self-reliant in edible oils. India imports more than 50 percent of its annual requirement of edible oils. “The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the National Mission on Edible Oils and Oilseeds (NMEO-Oilseeds), which aims to increase domestic oilseed production and achieve self-sufficiency in edible oils,” a government statement said. It is a historic initiative aimed at
The mission is for 7 years
The statement said that this mission will be implemented over a period of seven years from the year 2024-25 to the year 2030-31, with a financial outlay of Rs 10,103 crore. Through this mission, the government aims to increase primary oilseed production from 39 million tonnes by 2022-23 to 69.7 million tonnes by 2030-31. It said, “Its objective is to increase the cultivation of oilseeds in an additional 40 lakh hectare area.”
India imports soybean oil from Brazil and Argentina
India imports palm oil from Indonesia and Malaysia. Whereas it imports soybean oil from Brazil and Argentina. The country imports sunflower mainly from Russia and Ukraine. According to the statement, the newly approved NMEO-Oilseeds aims to increase production of major primary oilseed crops such as rapeseed-mustard, groundnut, soybean, sunflower and sesame as well as increase collection from secondary sources such as cottonseed, rice bran and tree-derived oils and Will focus on increasing crushing efficiency. Together with NMEO-OP (Oil Palm), the Mission aims to increase domestic edible oil production to 25.45 million tonnes by 2030-31, which will meet about 72 per cent of our estimated domestic requirement. This will be achieved by adopting high yielding high oil content seed varieties, expanding cultivation in rice fallow lands and promoting inter-cropping.
65 new seed centers and 50 seed storage units will be built.
“The mission will take advantage of the ongoing development of high-quality seeds using cutting-edge global technologies such as genome editing,” the government said. According to the statement, “65 new seeds will be created in the public sector to improve seed production infrastructure.” New seed centers and 50 seed storage units will be set up.'' The statement said, ''The objective of the mission is to significantly increase domestic oilseed production, pursue the goal of self-sufficiency in edible oils, thereby reducing import dependence and There is saving of valuable foreign exchange while boosting the income of farmers.'' The government said that the country is highly dependent on imports. Imports currently account for 57 percent of the domestic demand for edible oils.
Image Credit: India-Tv.