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Given the rising demand for edible oils over the years, the Government plans to increase domestic production of oilseeds.
Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Finance Minister, said in her Budget proposal for 2022-23 that a rationalised scheme will be brought in to increase domestic oilseed production and cut imports.
This statement assumes significance as the Economic Survey for 2021-22 mentioned that vegetable oil consumption in India is expected to remain high due to population growth and urbanisation. As per the OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2021-2030, India is projected to maintain a high per capita vegetable oil consumption growth of 2.6 per cent per annum, reaching 14 kg per capita by 2030, necessitating a high import growth of 3.4 per cent per annum.
Though India’s oilseed production has grown by 43 per cent between 2015-16 and 2020-21, the increase in demand for edible oils necessitated imports.
While edible oil production in the country increased from 6.1 million tonnes (mt) in 2015-16 to 7.9 mt in 2019-20, import increased from 14.9 mt in 2015-16 to 15.6 mt in 2018-19, before falling to 13.4 mt in 2019-20.
Solvent Extractors’ Association (SEA) of India has been urging the Government to boost domestic oilseed production.
in 2018-19, the Government launched the National Food Security Mission: Oilseeds (NFSM-Oilseeds) with interventions such as production of foundation and certified seed, and distribution of certified seeds and seed mini-kits of the latest high-yielding varieties It Uset up 36 oilseeds shubs during 2018-19 and 2019-20 to increase the availability of high-yielding varieties
For kharif 2021, 9.25 lakh oilseed mini-kits of high-yielding varieties were allocated for distribution in the major oilseed growing states.
In August 2021, the National Mission on Edible Oils — Oil Palm (NMEO-OP) was launched to augment the availability of edible oil through area expansion and price incentives.
Millets
Budget 2022-23 also announced support for branding millet products nationally and internationally as this is the International Year of Millets.
Devroop Dhar, co-founder and Managing Director of Primus Partners, described the move as timely and welcome. With the UN declaring 2023 as the year of millets and the known nutritional benefits, millet consumption is expected to increase tremendously. “This is the right time to ensure India continues its leadership position as a producer of millets,” he said.
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