Tajikistan intends to increase production of vegetable oil. But it still not be able to provide the population with its own product. Firstly, there are few cooking oil processing enterprises, and secondly, there are not enough raw materials.
Tajikistan annually spends 170,000,000-180,000,000 US dollars on purchasing vegetable oil, while domestic annual production of cooking oil meets the needs of only 15 percent of the population.
Tajikistan plans to increase production of vegetable oil by 20 percent within the next three and decrease vegetable oil imports by 6.5 percent within the reporting period.
Currently, Tajikistan annually produces about 25,000 tons of cooking oil, primarily cotton oil, and imports 98,000 of vegetable (primarily sunflower oil). By 2025, the country’s annual vegetable oil production and vegetable oil imports are expected to increase to 30,500 and 92,000 tons, respectively.
According to expert estimates, current Tajikistan’s annual requirements in vegetable oil are 160,800 tons, and taking into account population growth, they will increase to 171,000 tons in 2025.
According to official sources, 52 large and small cooking oil processing enterprises with a total capacity of more than 8,000 tons have been registered in the country. Some of them are not in operation.
In 2022, Tajikistan imported more than US$172 million worth of vegetable oils and fats, including margarines, safflower, sunflower, soybean and rapeseed oils and some other types of vegetable oils.
Besides, Tajikistan buys seeds of flax, sunflower and other crops in small volumes for production oils.
In Tajikistan, the main raw materials for production of vegetable oil are cotton seeds. The country also cultivates oilseeds such as sunflower, sesame, zaghir (Central Asian flax), rape, peanut and safflower.
According to data from the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), Tajikistan will plant oilseeds on almost 27,000 hectares of farmlands this year.
Doctor of Sciences in Agriculture Mastibek Norov notes that the cultivation of oilseeds is particularly important in conditions of dry climate and relative lack of land in Tajikistan.
According to him, 1 ton of safflower seeds can get on average 350-400 kilograms of safflower.
Sunflower is another promising plant for cultivation in Tajikistan. Ms. Mavzouna Mustafoqulova, who is engaged in studying sunflower cultivation, noted that on rainfed lands, sunflower can produce up to 3.3 tons of seeds from 1 ha.
The oil content of sunflower seeds is reportedly 50%, then the oil yield is 44%. Through this calculation method, it can be calculated that 440kg of sunflower oil can be obtained by processing one ton of sunflower seeds.
Sesame is another promising plant for cultivation in Tajikistan. Doctor of Sciences in Agriculture Qurbonali Partoyev says sesame can produce on average 1-1.2 tons seeds from 1 ha. The oil content of sesame seeds is 35%-40%, then up to 350 kilograms of sesame oil can be obtained by processing one ton of sesame seeds.
He further noted that in conditions of Tajikistan, up to 400 kilograms of rapeseed oil can be obtained from one tons of rape seeds.
