The government is working with a plan to produce 10 lakh tonnes of edible oil in the country, around 40 percent of its total demand, from the 2024-25 fiscal, Agriculture Minister Muhammad Abdur Razzaque said Tuesday.

The Agriculture Ministry has a three-year term plan to reduce the dependence on oil import in the country and as part of the plan, 40 percent of the country’s total demand will be produced in the next fiscal, which will help to save almost Tk 10,000 crore, he said.

Razzaque revealed this information while talking to reporters after a view-exchange meeting at the Secretariat.

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The annual demand for edible oil in Bangladesh is 24 lakh tonnes. Of the total demand, we have to import 90 percent of the total demand and recently a crisis of edible oil arose, as it was being imported from foreign countries at high price, he said.

To reduce dependence on the import of oil, we have taken the three-year term plan without reducing the production of paddy, he added.

Farmers do not want to produce oil-based crops in the country, as it  doesn't make money.

He also expressed his hope to achieve the target following fair implementation of the plan.

As part of the three-year term plan, the government has set a target to bring 23.60 lakh hectares of land under mustard, sesame, peanut, soybean and sunflower production - almost thrice the existing 8.6 lakh hectares of land in the 2024-25 fiscal, the term minister said.

They also set a target to increase the production of oil to 10 lakh tonnes from the existing 3 lakh tonnes, he added.