(a) whether any concrete steps are being taken by the Government for increasing the production of oilseeds and edible oils in order to avoid need for import of edible oils;
(b) if so, the details thereof;
(c) whether even one tenth of the total area in the country is not used for farming/ cultivation of oilseeds; and
(d) if so, the steps being taken by the Government for promoting farming/ cultivation of oilseeds among farmers so that there is no need of importing edible oils?
MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
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(a): Yes, Sir. The Government is implementing the National Food Security Mission (NFSM) – Oilseeds and Oil Palm to increase production of oilseeds and domestic availability of edible oils.
(b): The NFSM–(OS&OP) is under implementation in 29 States and has three sub-components namely, Oilseeds, Oil palm and Tree Borne Oilseeds (TBOs). The main objective is to increase oilseeds production & productivity and area expansion under oil palm & TBOs cultivation.
The oilseeds production which was 27.72 million tonnes in 2008-09 increased to 32.26 million tonnes in 2018-19 with productivity increase from 1006 to 1265 kg/ha. during this period.
The edible oil production in the country which was 6.34 million tonnes in 2008-09 increased to 10.44 million tonnes in 2018-19.
An area of 3.30 lakh ha has been covered under oil palm upto 2018-19.
(c): More than 12 per cent of total cropped area in the country is used for cultivation of oilseeds.
(d): To reduce import dependency, besides NFSM (OS&OP), Government of India is promoting pulses and oilseeds cultivation in rice fallow areas of six eastern states (Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal) since 2016-17 and from 2019-20, six more states (Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh) have been included to bring additional area and production of pulses and oilseeds.
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