AATMANIRBHAR AMBITIONS

As India targets developed nation status by 2047, making nutritious food evenly available for its projected 1.66 billion population will be pivotal. We presently produce 300 million tonnes (MT) of foodgrains, while demand is estimated to reach 345 MT by 2030. The country leads the world in production of milk, spices, pulses, tea, cashew and jute, and ranks second in rice, wheat, oilseeds, fruits, vegetables, sugarcane and cotton. Despite this, crop productivity lags, necessitating food imports. That needs to change, and India hopes to do it with tech, policy reforms and climate-aligned agriculture. It also has to eliminate food wastage, presently a staggering 68.7 MT per year

- ANILESH S. MAHAJAN

COOKING UP A STORM

INDIA IS IN A MISSION MODE TO RAISE ITS OILSEEDS PRODUCTION CAPACITY TO BE SELF-RELIANT IN THE EDIBLE OILS SECTOR

As India strides boldly into the realm of self-reliance in edible oils, it has to navigate a landscape of evolving policies and cutting-edge innovations to fortify its domestic edible oil production. Yet, amid this transformative journey, the import graph continues its upward trajectory. In July, India purchased a staggering 1.76 million tonnes of edible oils from global markets. In the first nine months of the 202223 oil year (November to October), there was a 23 per cent surge in the import of these vital cooking oils, from 9.98 MT to 12.3 MT in the same period the previous year.

In mid-June, the government reduced import duties on select edible oils, thus welcoming more foreign oils onto the Indian plate. Now, India accounts for 15 per cent of the world's edible oil imports, with a bill that touched Rs 1.57 lakh crore in the oil year ending October 2022. India gets its palm oil-the substantial component of import-from Indonesia and Malaysia, while a small quantity of crude soft oil, including soybean oil, comes from as far as Brazil and Argentina. Ukraine and Russia supply sunflower oil.

WHY IT IS A GAME CHANGER