ISLAMABAD, June 22: Pakistan has achieved import substitution to the tune of $50 million in edible oil during 2001-02 as a result of increase in production of oilseed crops, an official source told Dawn here on Saturday.

The statistics for the period July-May 2001-02, show that the country spent approximately $354 million on the import of soyabean and palm oil, that is, 15.37 per cent less than the same period of previous year.

The quantity of edible oils imported was about 10,91,713 tons, denoting a decrease of 4.91 per cent. The difference in the decrease in value and quantity is explained by a substantial decline in import of the much costlier soyabean oil in the current financial year and an 80,000 ton increase in import of palm oil.

In 2001, the country had imported 118,889 tons of soyabean oil. This was drastically reduced to 31,164 tons in the outgoing year.

The source attributed this to a substantial increase in the output of non-traditional oilseed crops including sunflower, canola, soybean, etc.

The Government has been trying to replace imported oil with the local product for about a decade. To that end, it established the Pakistan Oilseed Development Board (PODB). But a major hurdle has been weak linkage between the farmer’s field and the market in respect of non-traditional crops, explained Mr Ghulam Idrees, Senior Director of PODB.

That situation is changing slowly as evident from the expansion in area under these crops. Within one year, the area under these crops has multiplied from 237,000 in 2001 to 400,000 acres in 2002 — an increase of 68.78 per cent!

Among these, the area under sunflower grew by 83.11 per cent to 282,000 acres. The other promising oilseed crop is canola whose acreage registered 42.16 per cent increase to stand at 118,000 acres.

For some reason, however, other non-traditional crops such as soyabean, safflower, etc., seem to be losing their popularity with the farmers.

At the same time, however, the area under traditional crops such as rapeseed/mustard also decreased from 645,000 acres to 531,000 acres, denoting a decrease of 114,000 acres over 2001. A reason for this may, of course, be traced to severe drought due to which entire crops have been lost consecutively over the past three years. Their output, consequently, dropped by 16 per cent.

Conversely, the output of sunflower and canola increased by 82 per cent and 40 per cent respectively. Their output in 2002 is estimated at 90,000 tons. A decline in per acre yield may, however, be a worrisome feature of these statistics. But experts attribute this to the climate stress.

Nevertheless, Idrees pointed out, the share of non-traditional crops in total edible oil production in the country showed a definite increase — from 10.50 per cent in 2001 to 16.18 per cent in 2002.

In reply to a question about the infrastructure for marketing of these oils, he said before harvesting, PODB had obtained from the solvent industry to pay not less than Rs560 per 40 kg for seed to the farmers.

At the same time, however, the PODB had made it clear that the cost of local produce would be increased when the price of imported product also goes up. As it is expected that the international prices would be on their way up in the near future, the farmers would not be denied the benefit thereof, Idrees added.

Meanwhile, he further stated, the Board had directed its field staff to coordinate with the solvent industry to ensure good price for the farmers. In this connection, the board has set up complaint centres in Sindh to solve farmers’ problems.