Govt, private sector to cooperate ensuring local oil consumption, major edible oil export country

Union Minister for Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation presided over a coordination meeting with edible oil dealers, oil millers, and beans and sesame seeds merchants at the UMFCCI office in Yangon yesterday.
During the meeting, the Union minister said the government made efforts to support the private investment sectors as it set the policies following the market-oriented system, maintained in line with the existing law and developed trade deals for the agricultural products manufacturing sectors.
Therefore, the private entrepreneurs should focus on the production rate to meet the demand and work together with the government and private organizations to ensure the local oil consumption and to become a nation that exports cooking oil.
The local people mainly consume peanut oil and sesame oil and if the oil millers make investments in the high-quality oil mill industry, it can produce more 10 per cent than the original amount.
The oil can be produced from bran, cotton seeds and fermented soya-bean and the business people should expand their investment in it. The oil millers also should make preparations as the crossbreed sunflowers, which has the highest oil production per acre, will be planted in the coming season.
Then, the directors-general of departments concerned, the UMFCCI president, Chairpersons of the Myanmar Rice Federation, the Myanmar Edible Oil Dealers’ Association, the Myanmar Oil Millers Association, the Myanmar Pulses, Beans and Sesame Seeds Merchants Association and executive committee members reported on their ongoing work activities, annual oil production and consumption rate and establishment of special sunflower plantation zone in regions and states.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation is working hard to grow the crossbreed sunflower – monsoon sunflower and winter sunflower on 1.5 million acres.
The country has more than 7.6 million acres of edible oil plantations – over 2.8 million acres of peanut, 3.7 million acres of sesame and about 600,000 acres of sunflower. The groundnut plantation produces 186 kilogrammes of oil per acre while sesame plantation 91 kilogrammes of oil per acre and crossbreed sunflower plantation over 288 kilogrammes per acre.
The ministry also cooperates with ministries concerned to provide the needed crossbreed sunflower species, technology and other supports to expand the crossbreed sunflower plantations. — MNA