Oilseeds production doubled in 12 years: Razzaque
Agriculture Minister Muhammad Abdur Razzaque today said that the production of oilseeds in the country has almost doubled in the last 12 years.
Even then, most of the edible oil has to be imported from abroad and a lot of foreign exchange is spent on it as the main obstacle to oil production in the country is the scarcity of land, he said.
The minister said this while speaking at a workshop on the 'Increase in Production of Oilseeds' project virtually from the secretariat.
Under this project which taken at end of last year with Tk 278 crore, the oil crops, including mustard, sunflower and soybean will be increased by 20 per cent using modern varieties of short-term crops in 250 upazilas in the country by 2025, according to the ministry.
"Our scientists have developed high yielding and short term improved varieties of mustard and if these can be popularized among the farmers quickly, it will be possible to increase the production of oilseeds," the minister said.
According to the ministry, the production of oilseeds in 2009 was 6.6 lakh metric tonnes while it has increased to 11.54 lakh metric tonnes in 2020.
Razzaque said this ministry is working to increase the cultivation of oil crops as an additional crop without reducing the increase in paddy production.
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