Aatmanirbhar Oil Seeds Campaign is an initiative launched by the Government of India. It aims to achieve self-sufficiency in oilseeds production by 2025. Shankar Thakkar, National President of All India Edible Oil Traders Federation has welcomed the central government’s plan to promote major oilseeds like mustard, groundnut, sesame, soybean and sunflower to achieve ‘self-sufficiency’ in the oilseeds sector. He has said that the proper implementation of this step will greatly help the country in reducing the oil import bill. Aatmanirbhar Oil Seeds Campaign is a visionary strategy. India imports about 150 lakh tonnes of edible oil annually, worth more than Rs 1.35 lakh crore.
Finance Minister Sitharaman said in her budget speech that we will formulate a strategy to achieve self-sufficiency for major oilseeds like mustard, groundnut, sesame, soybean and sunflower. National General Secretary of the Federation, Tarun Jain said that we also want the government to form an oilseed production board to further strengthen the oilseed expansion program, which should include farmers, scientists, government officials and representatives of oilseeds and edible oil organizations.
Federation President Ajay Rana said
The Federation of Seed Industry of India expressed happiness over the announcement made for the agriculture sector and the seed industry in the interim budget 2024. He said that the seed industry is very happy to see the emphasis on oilseeds in this interim budget and the effort to make the agriculture sector self-reliant. The strategy to achieve self-sufficiency in the case of major oilseed crops like mustard, groundnut, sesame, soybean and sunflower will give new impetus to the agriculture sector. This is a timely and effective step. Which will boost our aspirations to become self-reliant in the important sector.
Benefits of Oilseed Campaign Scheme
- The government is strengthening the production, storage and marketing of major oilseeds like mustard, groundnut, sesame, soybean and sunflower.
- For this, research is being done for high yielding varieties.
- Emphasis is being laid on adopting modern agricultural technology.
- Attention is also being given to works like market linkage procurement, value addition, and crop insurance.
- National Food Mission NMEO has been launched to promote oilseed cultivation.
- Farmers are given assistance of Rs 70,000 per hectare for planting material and management.
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- An assistance of Rs. 2,90,000 is also given to the farmers for purchasing tools and equipment and Rs. 25 lakh for setting up a custom hiring centre.
- Due to the efforts of the government, the import dependency of edible oils is decreasing. In the year 2022-23, it decreased to 57.30%.
Nano-DAP in agriculture
The Finance Minister informed that after nano urea customisation, the government will use nano-DAP on multiple crops across all agro-climatic zones. Nano urea is a nanotechnology-based agricultural input that delivers nitrogen to the soil. Compared to a normal urea pellet, the product has a desirable particle size of about 20-50 nm, greater surface area (10,000 times more than a 1 mm urea prill) and number of particles (55,000 nitrogen particles from a 1 mm urea prill). Agricultural inputs are any external product that is added to the soil to help increase and improve yields. These can range from high-quality seeds to high-tech tractors.