An important meeting of the Cabinet and CCEA is being held today under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a view to curbing the rise in edible oil prices. The meeting is expected to approve the palm oil mission. It is expected to cost a total of Rs 11,000 crore.
The total population of the country increases by 2.5 crores every year. Accordingly, edible oil sales are expected to grow by 3 to 3.5 per cent per annum. At present, the Indian government is importing 1.5 crore tonnes of edible oil at a cost of Rs 60,000 crore to Rs 70,000 crore. Considering the population of the country, the country needs 2.5 crore tonnes of edible oil every year.
In India, soybean and palm oil are the top selling edible oils. The total import of palm oil is about 40%. We import 33% of our total soybean oil. India imports soybean oil from Argentina and Brazil. Indonesia is the second largest producer of palm oil in the world. While Malaysia is second.
Palm oil is also produced in some countries in Africa. Palm oil alone accounts for two-thirds of India's edible oil imports. India imports about 9 million tonnes of palm oil annually. India imports oil from both Indonesia and Malaysia.
Under the National Edible Oil Mission, the Modi government will focus on increasing palm oil production. Oilseed cultivation in India was very low. The government intends to increase it. The government will take initiatives to encourage oilseed farmers. Efforts will be made to double the production of farmers. Earlier, India had tried to become self-sufficient in pulses production.
The Ministry of Agriculture was instructed to come up with a long-term plan to eliminate the need to import edible oil in the near future. For the same purpose Prime Minister Narendra Modi had recently said that all the facilities required to increase palm oil production would be provided to farmers. Modi had also said that good quality oilseeds and state-of-the-art technology would be provided to the farmers.