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The Union government has launched National Mission on Edible Oils–Oilseeds (NMEO-OS) with an outlay of Rs 10,103.38 crore to boost the domestic oilseed production to 70 million tonnes by 2030-31 from the current 39 million tonnes, Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution Nimuben Jayantibhai Bambhaniya has said in Parliament.
In response to a question posed by Nellore MP Vemireddy Prabhakar Reddy, Ms. Bambhaniya said, “Around 57% of edible oil requirement is met through imports as the domestic production is unable to meet the demand. The NMEO-OS aims to enhance the production of key primary oilseed crops such as rapeseed-mustard, groundnut, soyabean, sunflower and sesamum, as well as increasing its collection and extraction efficiency from secondary sources.”
Additionally, the government has launched the NMEO-Oil Palm to promote oil palm cultivation to make the country self-reliant in edible oils, with a focus on north-eastern States. The mission will bring 6.5 lakh hectares more under the oil palm plantation.
In order to support oilseeds farmers, the basic customs duty (BCD) of crude soybean oil, crude palm oil, and crude sunflower oil has been raised to 20%, making the effective duty on crude oils 27.5%. Additionally, the BCD on refined palm oil, refined sunflower oil, and refined soyabean oil has been increased from 12.5% to 32.5% from September 2024.
Source: Online/OFA
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