“Oilseeds Mission: We will launch a new mission to achieve self-sufficiency in oil seeds and other agriproducts” — Promise in 2019 BJP Manifesto
An evaluation of the research information below indicates that:
1. Domestic production of edible oils and oil-seed availability has purportedly increased by approximately 20% since the launch of the schemes evaluated.
2. However, this has had no ameliorating impact on self-sufficiency and reduced imports of these commodities. The efforts sought to mitigate imports through its measures, but instead of reducing or at least stabilizing, India’s imports of edible oils and oilseeds have in fact increased during the scheme implementation period by approximately 30%.
It can therefore be concluded that:
The Government’s objectively verifiable performance has led to no net benefits in terms of reduced imports or greater self-sufficiency in the context of edible oils and oilseeds, and infact imports have increased by 30% and commensurately also eroded self-sufficiency in this context to the same degree.
Sources
According to:
1. A Policy Paper published by Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)-National Academy of Agricultural Research Management, Self-Sufficiency in Edible Oilseeds in India: Strategies and Policies, in February 2023, includes 2 vital tabulations (presented below) of India’s Oil Seed production and imports since 2010-11 to 2020-21 (based on actual data) and corresponding import related data (augmented with a 1-year projection) for Palm Oil .
2. The above objectively verifiable data makes it unequivocally clear that despite efforts to increase domestic production of oilseeds, leading to a 7.1% increase from a baseline period (2010-11 to 2013-14) to the period since the commencement of National Food Security Mission- Oilseeds (NFSM-OS), during 2018-19 to 2020-21, India’s imports of Oilseeds has actually increased, not decreased, by 43% from the baseline period to the period since launch of the programme.
3. Question No. 5385 (Unstarred) , Lok Sabha 17,Session 11, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, April, 2023, the data provided in the Annexure indicates that Domestic Edible Oil and Oilseed availability have increased by 18.3 to 26.9%, respectively between 2018-19 to 2022-2023. But instead of this ameliorating the need for imports, imports of edible oils have also concomitantly increased by 20.1% during that same period.
4. Question No. 901 (Unstarred) , Lok Sabha 17,Session 12, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, July 25, 2023, The Government is implementing a Centrally Sponsored Scheme, National Food Security Mission- Oilseeds (NFSM-OS) from 2018-19 to augment the availability of vegetable oils and to reduce the import of edible oils by increasing the production and productivity of oilseeds (Groundnut, Soybean, Rapeseed & Mustard, Sunflower, Safflower, Sesame, Niger, Linseed and Castor),under this scheme financial assistance is being provided to the farmers.
5. Report Number: IN2023-0062, Date: September 07, 2023, Report Name: Oilseeds and Products Update, Global Agricultural Information Network (USDA), India’s edible oil import has increased exponentially for the current MY compared to MY 2021/22. Crude palm oil remains the primarily consumed edible oil with record imports from Indonesia and Malaysia estimated at 10.5 MMT for MY 2022/23.
6. Damodaran, H. (Nov 21, 2023), The other oil imports India needs to worry about, The Indian Express, https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-economics/the-other-oil-imports-india-needs-to-worry-about-9033930/, states that “with over 60% of India’s consumption requirements being met through imports, which could rise further, there are concerns of vegetable oils going the petroleum products way”. Furthermore, “from a 10-year perspective, India’s edible oil imports have increased from 11.6 mt (valued at Rs 60,750 crore) in 2013-14 to 16.5 mt (Rs 138,424 crore) in 2022-23, with the jump pronounced in the last three years. In 2022-23, India’s edible oil production from domestically grown oilseeds and alternative sources such as cottonseed, rice bran and maize/corn amounted to around 10.3 mt, which translates into a domestic production of 38.6% of the total need; an indicator of diminishing seflf-sufficiency. The article also posits that comparatively, in 2004-05, when domestic output, at 7 mt, exceeded imports of 5 mt, India’s self-sufficiency ratio was approximately 60%. Finally, the article also presents the following Table which emphatically underscores that fact that imports of edible oil have greatly outpaced increased production since 2013-14 to 2022-23. As can be confirmed from the table, while domestic edible oil production has increased by 32.5 % in the 9 years from 2013-14 to 2022-2023, India’s imports of the same commodities has increased even more aggressively (41%) during that same period.
7. Das, S. (November 28, 2023), Import reliance for pulses, oil seeds to stay through FY31: Study, Financial Express, https://www.financialexpress.com/policy/economy-import-reliance-for-pulses-oil-seeds-to-stay-through-fy31-study-3319116/, India will continue importing large quantities of pulses and oilseeds by 2030-31 because of a substantial gap between demand and supply of these commodities. The news article cites a research paper by Nabard and Icrier (elaborated upon below). Corroborating the fact that India’s oilseed and edible oil import situation has exacerbated in the current Lok Sabha term, it states that India’s import of edible oils – palm, soybean and sunflower – rose 17% on year to a record 16.47 million tonne (MT) valued at Rs 1.38 trillion in the 2022-23 oil year (November-October) and that India continues to import about 56% of its total annual edible oil consumption.
8. The NABARD Report, NABARD Research Study No. 40 – Prospects of India’s Demand and Supply for Agricultural Commodities towards 2030, SHYMA JOSE and ASHOK GULATI, cited above states that “based on our forecasts of agricultural commodities for the years 2020-21, 2025-26 and 2030-31, oilseed, pulses and fruits depict a supply and demand gap in the coming years, implying increasing dependence on imports for these commodities.
9. Question No. 1471 (Unstarred) , Rajya Sabha 17, Ministry Commerce and Industry, December15, 2023, an analysis of the data presented in the Annexure reveals that Edible Oil imports increased by approximately 14.4% during the period of 2018-19 to 2023-24.
10. Biswas, P. & Kateshiya, Gopal B. (February 5, 2024), Why farmers are not enthusiastic about FM Sitharaman’s call for atmanirbharta in oilseeds, The Indian Express, https://indianexpress.com/article/business/budget/interim-budget-2024-fm-nirmala-sitharaman-self-sufficiency-oilseed-production-imports-9139206/, during the Oil Year (November 2022- October 2023), India imported 167.1 lakh tonne of edible oil – which was 16 per cent higher than the preceding year.
11. PTI (Mar 04, 2024), Govt launches mission to boost oilseeds’ production, cut imports of cooking oils, Economic Times, https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/foreign-trade/govt-launches-mission-to-boost-oilseeds-production-cut-imports-of-cooking-oils/articleshow/108212299.cms, Union Agriculture Minister Arjun Munda on Monday said the government has launched a mission to boost production of oilseeds and reduce imports of cooking oils. He highlighted that a mission of Rs 11,000 crore is being run to reduce the burden of edible oil imports and become self-reliant in oilseeds.
Research Results
1. https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=191036
2. https://naarm.org.in/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Policy-Paper-Oil-SeedsprintedDastagiri.pdf
3. https://sansad.in/getFile/loksabhaquestions/annex/1711/AU5385.pdf?source=pqals
4. https://sansad.in/getFile/loksabhaquestions/annex/1712/AU901.pdf?source=pqals
5. https://fas.usda.gov/data/india-oilseeds-and-products-update-26
6. https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-economics/the-other-oil-imports-india-needs-to-worry-about-9033930/
7. https://www.financialexpress.com/policy/economy-import-reliance-for-pulses-oil-seeds-to-stay-through-fy31-study-3319116/
8. https://www.nabard.org/auth/writereaddata/tender/0501244856nrs-40_prospects-of-indias-demand-and-supply-for-agricultural-commodities-towards-2030.pdf, https://sansad.in/getFile/annex/262/AU1471.pdf?source=pqars
9. https://indianexpress.com/article/business/budget/interim-budget-2024-fm-nirmala-sitharaman-self-sufficiency-oilseed-production-imports-9139206/
10. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/foreign-trade/govt-launches-mission-to-boost-oilseeds-production-cut-imports-of-cooking-oils/articleshow/108212299.cms
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