Cabinet takes several steps to boost production of edible oils

The Cabinet has taken several steps to boost the production of edible oils and reduce the dependence on import. Briefing media in New Delhi on Wednesday, Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Singh Thakur said, the Cabinet took major decision to reduce import of Palm Oil and approved implementation of National Mission on Edible Oils - Oil Palm as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme. He said, special focus will be laid on North East region and Andaman & Nicobar Islands. He said the financial outlay will be more than 11 thousand crore rupees. Thakur said, due to the heavy dependence on imports for edible oils, it is important to make efforts for increasing the domestic production of edible oils.
Union Agriculture and Farmer Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said, the decision will boost the production of edible oils. He said, Centre is working with the States to increase the production of edible oils. Tomar said, financial outlay of 11,040 crore rupees has been made for the scheme, out of which 8,844 crore rupees is the share of government of India and 2,196 crore rupees is the State share. He further said, under this scheme, it is proposed to cover an additional area of 6.5 lakh hectare for oil palm till the year 2025-26 and thereby reaching the target of 10 lakh hectares ultimately. The production of Crude Palm Oil (CPO) is expected to go upto 11.20 lakh tonnes by 2025-26 and upto 28 lakh tonnes by 2029-30. Tomar said, the scheme will immensely benefit the oil palm farmers, increase capital investment, create employment generation, shall reduce the import dependence and also increase the income of the farmers.

Cabinet has approved Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and United States of America on cooperation in the field of Geology. With this, Geological knowledge regarding Eastern Himalaya Syntaxis and Ladakh Plutons to get boost .The MoU will provide an institutional mechanism between Geological Survey of India (GSI) and the Florida International University (FIU) on cooperation in the field of Geology.