The government will formulate a strategy to achieve self-sufficiency in oilseeds — mustard, groundnut, sesame, soybean and sunflower — and expand usage of nano diammonium phosphate (DAP) fertiliser to reduce import dependence.
“Atmanirbhar Oilseeds Abhiyan will cover research for high-yielding varieties, widespread adoption of modern farm techniques, market linkages, procurement, value addition and crop insurance,” finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Thursday. India imports around 56% of its domestic edible oil consumption of around 25 million tonne (MT).
According to the Solvent Extractors Association of India, the country’s import of palm, soybean and sunflower oils rose 17% to a record 16.47 MT (valued at Rs 1.38 trillion) in the 2022-23 oil year (November-October) on year, owing to a fall in global prices and low import duty.
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Palm oil imports, mostly from Indonesia and Malaysia, constitute around 59% of the total edible oil imports. In domestic output, mustard has a share of 40%, soybean 24%, and groundnut 7%.
“While the timely push for edible oil production of mustard, groundnut, sesame, soybean, and sunflower oils is welcome, the scope should be extended to oil palm as well given its higher productivity,” Sanjay Goenka, managing director and CEO, 3F Oil Palm, a major producer of domestic palm oil, said.
Under the National Mission for Edible Oil – Oil Palm launched in 2021, the government is aiming to bring the area under palm oil production to a million hectare by FY26. Sitharaman also announced that after the “successful adoption” of nano-urea as an alternative to conventional urea, application of nano-DAP will be expanded to various crops in all agro-climatic zones.
According to officials, this is likely to bring down the use of conventional DAP on crops such as sugarcane and wheat by 20%. Of the 10 MT DAP used annually in the country, more than half is imported from West Asia and Jordan.
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Sitharaman also said the government will promote private and public investment in post-harvest activities, such as aggregation, modern storage, efficient supply chains, primary and secondary processing and marketing and branding.
According to KC Ravi, chief sustainability officer, at agritech company Syngenta India, the focus on self-reliance in edible oils and investment in post-harvest activities will “sustain the momentum in the agriculture sector”.
The finance minister noted that 118 million small and marginal farmers get direct cash assistance under the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi. The scheme, launched in 2019, provides farmers Rs 6,000 annually in three equal monthly instalments. So far, Rs 2.8 trillion has been transferred to beneficiaries.
She said 1,361 mandis have been integrated into the electronic National Agriculture Market (eNAM). The digital wholesale marketplace provides services to 18 million farmers, and has a trading volume of Rs 3 trillion since its launch in April 2016.
Currently, 27 states and Union Territories or on the eNAM platform, including Tamil Nadu with 157 mandis, Rajasthan (145), Gujarat (144), Maharashtra (133), Uttar Pradesh (125) and Haryana (108).
Sitharaman said efforts for value addition in the agricultural sector, which would boost farmers’ income, will be stepped up. “Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana has benefited 3.8 million farmers and generated a million jobs,” she said.
