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The Indian government has launched two missions – on edible oils and palm oil – in a bid to ensure food security and end its reliance on imports, Policy Circle reported on 7 October.
With a focus on increasing edible oil production from oil palm, the National Mission of Edible Oils – Oil Palm (NMEO-OP) will run from 2024/25 to 2030/31.
“Considering the growing domestic demand for edible oils, the staggering deficiency and the cost to the exchequer on account of imports, the urgency of scaling up the oil palm area is of national interest,” a statement on the government website said.
“The aim [is] to enhance edible oilseeds production and oils availability in the country by harnessing oil palm area expansion, increasing crude palm oil (CPO) and reducing imports.”
India produced 39M tonnes of oilseeds in 2022/23, but the government planned to increase this to 69.7M tonnes under the national oilseeds scheme, Policy Circle wrote.
It also aimed to improve yields from 1,353 kg/ha to 2,112 kg/ha and raise domestic edible oil production from 12.7M tonnes to 20.2M tonnes by 2030-31, the report said.
Oilseeds are currently planted on approximately 29M ha of land, but the plan is to expand oilseed cultivation by bringing an additional 4M ha under production by focusing on planting on rice and potato fallow land, promoting intercropping, promoting high-yielding oil-rich seed varieties and diversifying crop choices, according to the report.
India imports around 9M tonnes/year of palm oil, around 56% of total edible oil imports, but the schemes aimed to reduce this to around 28% over the next seven years, the report said.
To curb imports, the focus would be on boosting the production of key crops such as mustard, groundnut, soyabean, sunflower and sesame and the government also planned to increase oil extraction from secondary sources like cottonseed, rice bran and tree-borne oils.
In addition, the government would support the development of high-quality seeds using global technologies such as genome editing, the report said.
As part of the NMEO-OP initiative, seed gardens and oil palm nurseries would be set up to ensure the domestic availability of seedlings.
Source: www.ofimagazine.com