Need to rapidly increase domestic production of oilseeds-oil

09-Oct-2024 08:55 PM

Mumbai. India has not only remained the largest importer of edible oils in the world for the last few years, but its import is also constantly increasing.

Due to this, foreign currency worth billions of rupees goes out of the country. There is a dire need to curb this. India's dependence on import of edible oils has increased to 55-60 percent.

With the increase in population and increase in per capita income, as well as the change in the food habits of people, the domestic demand for edible oils is constantly increasing.

By launching the National Mission on Oilseeds-Oil, the government has taken a strong step towards increasing domestic production and has also set an ambitious target of increasing the production of oilseeds to around 7 crore tonnes for the next seven years. If this target is achieved, then India's dependence on import of edible oils can be reduced to a great extent.

But to achieve this huge target, integrated and practical efforts are necessary. Experts say that policies and plans are made and implemented but the required efforts are not made to achieve concrete results.

If the oilseed-oil mission had been launched eight-ten years ago, by now the country would have been freed from the clutches of huge imports of edible oils to a great extent.

Well! The time has come to make the saying 'better late than never' come true and this time missing the target will prove very costly.