In the wake of the Ukraine-Russia crisis, India's crude sunflower oil imports fell by 23 per cent to 5.70 lakh tonne between February 21 and June 30 of this year. The Parliament was informed about the number on Tuesday.

India majorly imports sunflower oil from Ukraine, Russia and Argentina. In his written statement to the Lok Sabha, Agriculture Minister, Narendra Singh Tomar said, “Since February 21, 2022, to June 30, 2022, 5.70 lakh tonne of crude sunflower oil has been imported in the country as against import of 7.39 lakh tonne during the corresponding period in the previous year.”

The minister was responding to a query regarding the impact on sunflower oil import due to the instability in Russia and Ukraine. Tomar stated that the country imported 20.45 lakh tonnes of crude sunflower oil during 2021-22 fiscal. This number is slightly lower than 21.75 lakh tonne in the previous year.

Tomar said that the government has taken steps to reduce the country’s import dependence on sunflower oil such as implementing a Centrally Sponsored Scheme, National Food Security Mission- Oilseeds & Oil Palm (NFSM-OS&OP) from 2018-19 to augment the availability of edible oils by increasing the production and productivity of nine oilseed crops including sunflower and to reduce the import burden in the country.The NFSM-OS is being implemented in 28 states and union territories during 2022-23.

The Agriculture Minister also added that in order to increase area and production of sunflower cultivation in the country through hybrid seed production and demonstration, the government has also approved a special project of Rs 43.53 crore to the ICAR- Indian Institute of Oilseeds Research, Hyderabad for three years from 2022-23 to 2024-25.