Pakistan will produce over 0.4 million tons of cooking oil/ghee domestically from different oilseed crops like sunflower, canola and olive, which will decrease country's import bill by some $600 million this year. Pakistan this year has set sunflower cultivation target at 1.2 million acres, canola at 0.233 million acres and olive plantation on 3,500 acres.
The sunflower cultivation target has been achieved by Sindh and Punjab. Sunflower cultivation in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) is expected to cover over 100,000 acres. Managing Director Pakistan Oilseed Development Board (PODB), Ghulam Idrees Khan told Business Recorder that farmers across Pakistan had sown sunflower on over 1,200,000 acres.
He said that the total palm oil import bill was $1.7 billion last year and it would have risen to $2.25 billion due to a massive rise in the international prices of palm oil had not domestic production risen this year. Sunflower cultivation target in Sindh province was set at 0.8 million acres, which had been achieved, in Punjab sowing had crossed 400,000 acres so far, while in some parts of the province farmers were still sowing sunflower. Farmers in flood affected district of Sindh were encouraged by the government to cultivate sunflower in the province, Idrees added.
Sunflower crop in Southern Punjab is considered of better quality than in other areas and it has been cultivated in areas close to oil extracting mills, he added. He said that farmers in Sindh have cultivated the crop on 0.8 acres, which is 200,000 acres more than last year and future of oilseed crop in Pakistan is dependant on the plantation of olive as vast lands across the country are suitable for olive cultivation.
The crop is also being cultivated in Balochistan and KP, where over 1,500,00 acres of land have been brought under sunflower and other oil seed crops, Ghulam Idress added. Ghulam Idress said that the oil extracting industry will receive one million tons of oilseeds from sunflower crops, sufficient to produce 400,000 tons of edible oil.
Pakistan annually spends nearly $1.7 billion on the imports of palm oil from Malaysia and other countries. The palm oil prices in the international market have touched record high at $1,248 per ton last month and currently it is being traded at $1142 per ton. A few months back its price was $800 per ton. After the increase in international prices of palm oil, cooking oil/ghee is being sold at Rs 950 per 5 kg in Pakistan, which a few months ago was being sold at Rs 700-750 per 5 kg depending on the quality of edible oil. This would decrease Pakistan's import bill of palm oil import by 20 percent.
Russia is among the leading sunflower producing countries where the crop has badly failed. Moreover, recent floods in Australia have damaged the agriculture sector badly. These two factors have contributed in raising the palm oil price in the international market, Idrees said. He said that Pakistan would produce record sunflower this year as cultivation would exceed the target set by PODB due to better price, which the government had set at Rs 2,000 per 40 kg and oil producing companies had assured the government they would purchase sunflower at the official price.
He pointed out that KP had low sunflower cultivation due to its focus on tobacco plantations, which was more profitable. However, as per studies Federal Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) is more suitable for olive plantation and the POBD is striving hard to increase olive plantation in FATA region. Ghulam Idrees Khan said that sunflower cultivation was underway in uphill areas of Balochistan while in plain areas of the province it would start in May.