<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS) President Dr. Trilochan Mohapatra has emphasised the need for increasing the production of edible oil to meet the domestic requirement in the country.  Interacting with media persons in New Delhi on the importance of Genetically Modified, GM Mustard today, he highlighted the role of hybrid technology to increase the productivity of edible oil.</p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><br />''</p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Dr. Mahapatra said that over one lakh crore rupees is being spent on the import of edible oil after the COVID period, which is a huge burden on the economy.  He said, currently the country requires around 25 million tonnes of edible oil, while it is producing 10 million tonnes only.  He said, the government is taking several steps to reduce its dependency on the import of edible oil. In this direction, the use of technology and hybrid oil seeds will play a significant role. </p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><br />''</p>''<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><br />''</p>