Finance minister
Nirmala Sitharaman
on Thursday announced the Centre will formulate a strategy to make the country self-reliant on edible oils by boosting domestic output of oilseeds as well as draw up a comprehensive programme to support dairy farmers.
Presenting the Interim Budget, she also announced a plan to set up five integrated aqua parks and launch a new climate-resilient scheme for fisheries. In addition, the Centre will step up the central fisheries scheme to enhance aquaculture productivity from the existing 3 tons to 5 tons per hectare, double its export to Rs 1 lakh crore, and guarantee 55 lakh employment opportunities.Aqua parks will facilitate various fisheries activities at one place.
India currently imports a large quantity of edible oils to meet its domestic demand. During the 2022-23 marketing year (November-October), the country imported nearly 165 lakh tonnes of
cooking
oil worth Rs 1.38 lakh crore.
To make India self-reliant on oil seeds such as mustard, groundnut, sesame, soybean and sunflower, the FM said the new strategy will cover research for high-yielding varieties, adoption of modern farming techniques, market linkages, procurement, value addition and crop insurance.
Noting that India is the world's largest milk producer but with low productivity of milch-animals, she said, "The programme will be built on the success of existing schemes such Rashtriya Gokul Mission, National Livestock Mission, and Infrastructure Development Funds for dairy processing and animal husbandry."
Sitharaman also spoke about stepping up efforts for value addition and boosting farmers' income through schemes that include Pradhan Mantri Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises Yojana, which has already assisted 2.4 lakh self-help groups and 60,000 individuals. She said the govt will further promote private and public investment in "post-harvest activities", including aggregation, modern storage, efficient supply chains, processing, marketing and branding.
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