Increase oilseeds production as an alternative to edible oil import: Minister

Agriculture Minister Md Abdur Razzaque has instructed officials to work towards increasing oilseeds production in a bid to reduce dependency on edible oil imports.

He also asked agricultural officers to focus on research to this end.

The minister gave the instructions on Wednesday during a workshop on the recent achievements and the futuristic plans of the Krishi Gobeshona Foundation at the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council auditorium.

Speaking as the chief guest at the event, minister Razzaque said, "The import of six products, including oil, pulses and wheat, is costing the country more than $2 billion [per year]. Our country is producing pulses and oilseeds in different char areas including Patuakhali. We need to find out where else these crops can be grown and at the same time increase research in this regard."

He said "90% of edible oil [used in the country] needs to be imported. We have to see if we can produce even half of the import amount.

"It is necessary to determine where the production of mustard can be increased. An extension system needs to be developed so that production increases rapidly."

Emphasising research on increasing agricultural products, he said, "Several universities are doing research using government funds. We need to assess the quality of the research, which journals are the researches being published to and the quality of those journals."

Also speaking on the occasion, BARC chairman Sheikh Mohammad Bakhtiar said, "We will have record exports this year. We met our export target two months ago. We have seen 26% growth in the export of agricultural products this month. But on the other hand, for various reasons, we will have to spend extra on imports."

"Oil and oilseed imports cost the country around Tk10,000 crore every year. That is why we are working to increase the production of oilseeds in the country to reduce oil imports," he said.