Daily Times

In an effort to take the country towards self-reliance in food commodities especially in edible oil, the government has planned to increase the annual domestic edible oil production up to 4.793m tons in 10 years.

At present the country produces 0.745m tons of edible oil annually which is only 8pc of the total demand of the commodity of over 5m tons. In a meeting held here, presided over by Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal, it was informed that in order to meet the demand, Pakistan imports 4.5m tons of edible oil annually.

The move would help minimizing the huge import bill of the food group that was recorded at US$7.575b during first 11 months (Jul-May) of the year 2021-22. The import of palm oil was recorded at $3,058b while that soyabean oil stood at $217.7m during the period under review. The meeting that was held to review the plans with respect to achieving self-dependency in the edible oil here today. It was informed in the meeting that it has been planned that the production would be gradually increased from current 0. 745m to 1.192m in five years and 4.793m in next 10 years. The meeting was attended by the authorities of ministry of National Food Security and Research, and ministry of Planning, Development, and Special Initiatives. On the occasion, Ahsan Iqbal directed that the plan to take the country towards self-reliance in edible oil should be discussed with all provincial stake holders and after taking them in confidence on this issue, a feasible roadmap should be finalized within a week.

The minister said the investors in the edible oil production sector should be given special incentives to boost local production. He said making the country self-dependence in the edible oil was the top priority of the government’s development agenda and in this regard, he directed to engage the private sector to expedite the process of achieving the self-reliance. Ahsan Iqbal also directed to ensure the supply of edible oil to the people keeping the basic hygiene rules.