Mission on oilseeds needs more zeal

The government's recent decision to set up a National Mission on Edible Oils and Oilseeds to achieve self-reliance in edible oils in the next seven years does not inspire enough confidence in meeting the hitherto elusive objective.

- SURINDER SUD

The reasons for the paucity of optimism on this count are many.

For one, oilseed missions of this kind, and with similar mandates, have existed since the mid-1980s, but without much success.

In fact, one such mission, called the National Mission on Edible Oils-Oil Palm (NMEO-OP), set up in 2021 with an outlay of ₹11,040 crore, is in operation even now, though the others have either folded up or merged with the revamped National Food Security Mission.

The new initiative, thus, involves neither any innovative thinking nor a novel game plan, to ensure better success.

Dependence on import for meeting the domestic requirements of this mass-consumed kitchen staple has continued to remain untenably high.

It is about 60 per cent even now.

No doubt, the indigenous production of oilseeds and edible oils has also been increasing steadily, but the growth rate has failed to keep pace with the rise in demand.

The lag has become all the more conspicuous in recent years.

According to the official data, the output of edible oils has risen since 2006-07 by 2.2 per cent a year, while the demand has surged at almost double the pace – over 4.3 per cent.

As a result, the import of cooking oils has swelled from 4.37 million tonnes in 2006-07 to nearly 15.5 million tonnes in 2023-24.