Union Cabinet on Thursday approved the National Mission on Edible Oil-Oilseeds (NMEO-Oilseeds) with a financial outlay of Rs 10,103 crore.

The initiative, aimed at boosting domestic oilseed production and achieving self-reliance in edible oils, will be implemented over a seven-year period, from 2024-25 to 2030-31, the Cabinet said in a communique.

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It aims to increase primary oilseed production from 39 million tonnes (FY 2022-23) to 69.7 million tonnes by FY 2030-31.

The ‘NMEO-Oilseeds’ mission will focus on enhancing the production of key primary oilseed crops such as rapeseed-mustard, groundnut, soybean, sunflower, and sesamum, as well as increasing collection and extraction efficiency from secondary sources like cottonseed, rice bran, and tree-borne oils, the Cabinet communique said.

“Together with NMEO-OP (Oil Palm), the Mission targets to increase domestic edible oil production to 25.45 million tonnes by 2030-31 meeting around 72 per cent of our projected domestic requirement,” it noted.

The mission will harness the ongoing development of high-quality seeds by using cutting-edge global technologies such as genome editing. According to the Cabinet, the mission will introduce an online, five-year rolling seed plan through the ‘Seed Authentication, Traceability & Holistic Inventory (SATHI)’ portal. It will enable states to establish advance tie-ups with seed-producing agencies, including cooperatives, Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs), and government or private seed corporations.

The Cabinet said 65 new seed hubs and 50 seed storage units will be set up in the public sector to improve the seed production infrastructure. Additionally, over 600 value chain clusters will be developed across 347 unique districts, covering more than 10 lakh hectares annually. The mission also seeks to expand oilseed cultivation by an additional 40 lakh hectares by targeting rice and potato fallow lands, promoting intercropping, and promoting crop diversification. Currently, the country is heavily reliant on imports which account for 57 per cent of its domestic demand for edible oils.