KolachiMag

Pakistan spends Billions of Dollars annually on import of edible oil in spite of the fact that it has not only the potential of catering domestic needs but also the capability of exporting it to the global market and generate a sizable amount of foreign exchange.

Unfortunately, the production, processing and exporting facilties for oil seeds and related value added services are very limited. Only few areas of the country produce oil seeds and translate into edible oil.

It’s not only the responsibility of the federal government to promote the trend of common oil seeds like mustard, sesame, sunflower, castor, soya beans, olive oil, peanuts etc but also the provincial governments are supposed to launch campaigns in areas where the weather conditions support the production of oil seeds.

The coastal area of Sindh and Balochistan has also the potential of the plantation of palm trees on millions of acres across the 1100 kms long coastline.

This is also the responsibility of the local organisations of farmers to create awareness among the peasants and farmers and encourage them to plant as much oil seeds as they can.