New Delhi: From now onwards, the cooking oil in India is getting cheaper as the Central government has initiated National Edible Oil Mission-Oil Palm (NMEO-OP), a new policy, with which the nation will increase the home production of edible oil. On Wednesday, the Central government mentioned that it will invest Rs 11,040 crore in this new ecosystem.
PM Modi had before this month asserted this new scheme. “The government will invest over Rs 11,000 crore via the National Mission on oilseeds and Oil Palm to supply farmers with everything possible, including better seeds and technology,” PM Modi said on Twitter.
It must be noted that India mainly and largely relies on the imports of oil to meet the domestic demand. Thus, India only produces 2.4 crore tonnes of edible oil that it consumes yearly. Then the rest of the oil it imports from the world to fulfill the demand — palm oil from Indonesia and Malaysia, soyoil from Brazil and Argentina, and sunflower oil, mainly from Russia and Ukraine. Out of the total import, palm oil constitutes about 55 per cent.
Recently, palm oil is the world’s most edible vegetable oil and India is the largest consumer of vegetable oil on the planet. Notably, the edible oils consumed in India combine mustard, soyabean, groundnut, sunflower sesame oil, niger seed, safflower seed, castor and linseed (primary source) and coconut, palm oil, cottonseed, rice bran, solvent extracted oil, tree and forest origin oil. “When India is appearing as a major exporter of farm goods, we should not rely on imports for our edible oil requirements,” PM Modi had said.
As per the new policy of the Central government, the National Edible Oil Mission will elevate the home production of palm oil by three times to 11 lakh MT by 2025-26. This plan will aid the government to lower the rising price of domestic edible oil.
