In a bid to reduce the country's dependency on edible oil imports, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday announced a national mission on edible oils and oil palm, with an investment of over Rs 11,000 crore for building the ecosystem to boost the domestic production.
With palm oil having 55 per cent share in total edible oil imports, the National Mission on Edible Oil-Oil Palm (NMEO-OP) would ensure that farmers get all facilities, from quality seeds to technology to promote cultivation of palm and other oil seeds, he said.
Modi made this announcement after virtually releasing the ninth installment of Rs 19,500 crore to 9.75 crore beneficiary farmers under the government's flagship scheme PM-KISAN.
"While India has become self-sufficient or Aatmanirbhar in production of rice, wheat and sugar, but it was not enough as the country is dependent on huge imports of edible oils," he said.
He said farmers can replicate what has been achieved in pulses production, which rose almost by 50 per cent in the last six years.
"The kind of work we did in pulses, and even in the past in wheat and paddy, we need to make same efforts to boost the domestic production of edible oils," he said, adding that aggressive effort is need of the hour to become self-reliant in edible oil.
He urged farmers to take the NMEO-OP as a pledge for achieving self-reliance in edible oil and said more than Rs 11,000 crore will be invested in the cooking oil ecosystem under this mission.
