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Govt plans to cut edible oil imports
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SME Times News Bureau | 22 Feb, 2021
The Modi government is now planning to work on mission mode to reduce
the dependence of the country on edible oil imports, under which it
would be increasing production of edible oil from various sources along
with spreading public awareness for economical consumption of oil.
According
to experts, the objective of this new mission of the Modi government is
not only to bring self-reliance ('Aatmanirbharta') in edible oils but
also to transfer money to farmers on the expenses incurred on the oil
imports.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday during the
meeting of the sixth governing council of the Niti Aayog also mentioned
that despite being an agricultural country, India imports edible oil
worth nearly Rs 65,000-70,000 crore annually. The Prime Minister said
this money spent on imports could be transferred to the bank accounts of
farmers in the country.
We are talking about the 'National
Mission on Oilseeds', on which there is a plan to spend nearly Rs 19,000
crore in the next five years. A senior official of the Union Ministry
of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare said the preparations for the mission
are foolproof and would be implemented from April 1 in the upcoming
financial year.
India imports nearly 150 lakh tonnes of edible
oil every year while domestic production is nearly 70 to 80 lakh tonnes.
With the growing population of the country, consumption of edible oil
would also increase moving ahead. In such a situation, bridging the huge
gap between the edible oil imports and the domestic production by
achieving 'self-reliance' in edible oil is a major goal. But Trilochan
Mohapatra, Director General of the Indian Council of Agricultural
Research (ICAR), says that when work is undertaken on mission mode,
there is a greater chance of achieving success in it.
He said to
increase the production of oilseeds in the country, along with acreage,
more emphasis would be given on increasing productivity.
Mohapatra
told that in the eastern region of the country, there are nearly 110
lakh hectares of land, which remains vacant after taking out the paddy
crop, it can increase its area by growing mustard. In addition, farmers
are encouraged to cultivate pulses and oilseeds instead of crops like
paddy, wheat and sugarcane in Punjab, Haryana including northern India
where there is scarcity of water.
Mohapatra said like paddy and
wheat, if farmers get the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for oilseeds and
high yield seeds are available then their interest in cultivating these
crops would increase.
He told that according to the study conducted by ICAR, there are 20 agro ecological regions in the country.
Mohapatra
said that varieties of seeds are prepared for cultivation of suitable
crops in climate of a particular region, which increases the yield. He
said that India imports palm oil the most, but the emphasis is now on
increasing palm cultivation in the country, which would help in bringing
'Aatmanirbharta'.
A total of nine oilseed crops are cultivated
in India every year. Their annual production has been exceeding 300 lakh
tonnes for the last four years and is increasing year by year. These
include such oilseeds and oils which are used only in industries, but
most of them are used as edible oils.
Director ICAR-Directorate
of Rapeseed-Mustard Research, Bharatpur (Rajasthan), P.K. Rai, said
there is great potential to increase the production of oilseeds in the
country and mustard can be seen as an example of this. He said that the
emphasis on mustard cultivation in mission mode has increased the
acreage this year and production could be between 110 to 120 lakh
tonnes.
Agriculture Ministry official said that in the next five years, the production of oilseeds in the country could double.
Apart
from seasonal crops, oil is obtained from the seeds of some evergreen
trees in the country. Then, there are also secondary sources of oil. A
senior Agriculture Ministry official said the goal of development has
been set at every level. Four sub-missions have been made under the
'National Oilseeds Mission' which are as follows:
Firstly to
increase the production of oil from primary source. Under this it is
planned to increase production of soyabean, mustard-rapeseed, groundnut,
sunflower, sesame, safflower and ramtil.
Secondly to increase
the production of oil from secondary source and under it crop which is
not produced mainly for oil, but oil comes from it as a by-product. For
example, cotton oil, linseed oil etc.
Thirdly setting up of
processing units in oilseed production areas wherein the areas where
oilseeds are produced, provision has been made to set up processing
units so that farmers can get a fair price of their crops.
Fourthly to create awareness campaign to make people aware of the benefits of economical consumption of oil.
Experts
point out that oil consumption is steadily increasing with the
country's growing population, but a research by the Indian Council of
Medical Research (ICMR), advises a person to consume 30 grams of oil
daily. Adhering to this ICMR study, the annual oil consumption per
capita should be nearly 11 kg of oil. Whereas according to the 2017
report, the per capita oil consumption in the country is 19.3 kg.
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