IMPORT of edible oil to meet domestic needs has become inevitable in view of domestic demand exceeding national output. It is either extracted from oil seeds or is imported directly from Malaysia, Norway, Singapore, South Korea, Argentina, Singapore and Switzerland. Pakistan imports palm and soybean oil.

Cottonseed, rapeseed, mustard, canola, sunflower, safflower, groundnut and sesame are major oilseed crops. Cotton seed is a major source of edible oil. Crops like rapeseed, mustard and groundnut are indigenous.

Compared to non-traditional crops like sunflower, soybean and sesame, per acre yield of traditional crops is considerably low due to poor seed quality, inappropriate cultivation techniques and reduced potential yield of cultivars. Edible oil is the 5th largest import commodity with a total share of 3.6 per cent.

In 2004-05, Pakistan‘s import of edible oil increased to $706 million dollars against $658 million in the previous year. 

The total availability of edible oil in 2003-04 was 2.437 million tons with the local production of 0.740 million tons or 30.4 per cent of the total requirements. The imports were 1.693 million tons or 69.6 per cent.

Cultivation of edible oil is not popular due to a number of reasons. In 2004-05 the area under sunflower cultivation was 770,000 acres; rapeseed and mustard 612,000 acres; sesame 66,000 acres; cottonseed 7979,000 acres and; and canola 288,000 acres.

The production of sunflower, rapeseed and mustard, cottonseed and canola was 507,000 tons, 215,000 tons, 4,470,000 tons and 173,000 tons during the same year. Oil extraction during 2004-05 was 17,700 tons, 68,000 tons, 536,000 tons and 61000 tons of sunflower, rapeseed and mustard, cottonseed and canola, respectively. Total production was 842,000 tons during 2004-05. To increase area is difficult as growers prefer cereal grains.  

The situation calls for the exploration of other means to increase the acreage of oilseed crops without sacrificing the area under cash and grain crops. Cultivation of non-traditional crops like sunflower, canola and soybean is imperative to enhance production. Farmers are reluctant to grow oilseed crops because of the non-existence of a definite procurement system.

Another reason is poor cultivation techniques. Farmers don’t attach as much importance to oilseed as they attach to grain and cash crops. Normally, oilseed crops are cultivated in areas where it is not feasible to grow cash or grain crops due to deficiency of inputs such as irrigation water. Oilseed don’t require high amount of inputs. Little dose of fertilizers, minimum tillage, a few irrigations, and less plant protection measures are required for successful cultivation due to which the cost of production of these crops is much lower as compared to grain or cash crops. To get higher per acre yield, appropriate cultivation techniques are required.  

It is possible to increase area of cultivation under oilseed crops in different agro-ecological regions where there is shortage of water. Similarly, another option available is cultivation of oilseed crops on marginal lands, inter-cropping and replacement of some traditional crops like rapeseed and mustard.

About 6.17 million hectares are salt-affected soils which comprises of 60 per cent of cultivable canal command area. It can be managed through incorporation of gypsum and sulphuric or nitric acids in proper amounts and application of proper amount of fertilizers, inclusion of green manure crops in a suitable cropping pattern and deep ploughing with chisel plough to reduce the severity of salinity/sodicity. Similarly, waterlogged and eroded soils can be managed through management practices and can be made productive for sunflower crop.

Another way to increase cultivation of oilseed crops is to attract small farmers with five to 12.5 acres toward cultivation of oilseeds through provision of seeds, fertilizers, irrigation water and credit as they have low financial capacity.   Cultivation of sunflower has potential to reduce the import of edible oil by 30 per cent along with canola within five years provided focus is given on increasing the area and production.

Inter-cropping of selected oilseed crops in wheat, sugarcane and potato can also help increase area as well as cropping intensity. Different governments have tried to increase edible oil production. The Pakistan Oil Seed Development Board was established to execute oil seed productivity enhancement programme in 1996-97 whose main focus was on area expansions and production enhancement of non-traditional oilseed crops. However, results are not worth mentioning.

Improved management practices would bring further increase in production. Per acre yield can be increased by introducing higher yielding hybrids, early maturing hybrids, hybrids resistant to insects, pests and diseases, availability of other inputs such as fertilizers, irrigation etc., and adoption of modern production technology.  

Quality seed is essential to get higher yield of oilseed crops. Quality seed makes it possible to enhance production by 10 to 20 per cent. Planting techniques play important role in enhancing crop yield significantly. For instance, bed plantation of sunflower gives 15 per cent higher yield than the traditional method of sowing like broadcasting. This sowing method also conserves about 45 per cent water.