The government has also approved the National Mission on Edible Oils and Oilseeds (NMEO-Oilseeds) for 2024-25 to 2030-31 with an outlay of 10 thousand 103 crore rupees. This has been done with an aim to make India self-reliant in oilseed production in the next seven years. Briefing media in New Delhi, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the newly approved NMEO-Oilseeds will focus on enhancing the production of key primary oilseed crops such as rapeseed mustard, groundnut, soybean, sunflower, and sesamum.

He added that it will also focus on increasing collection and extraction efficiency from secondary sources like cottonseed, rice bran, and tree-butter oils. Mr Vaishnaw said that the mission aims to increase primary oilseed production from 39 million metric tonnes in 2022–23 to 69.7 million metric tonnes by –31. He said that together with NMEO-OP (Oil Palm), the mission targets to increase domestic edible oil production to 25.45 million metric tonnes by 2030–31, meeting around 72% of the projected domestic requirement. Mr Vaishnaw said that the mission will harness the ongoing development of high-quality seeds by using cutting-edge global technologies such as genome editing.

The Mission aims to significantly enhance domestic oilseed production, advancing the goal of self-reliance in edible oils, thereby reducing import dependency and conserving valuable foreign exchange while boosting farmers’ incomes. This mission will also accrue significant environmental benefits in the form of low water usage, improved soil health, and making productive use of crop fallow areas.