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Agriculture Minister Dr M Abdur Razzaque has said Bangladesh has a great potential to produce corn oil, which could help the country reduce its dependence on edible oil import.
The minister said this after visiting the Nasir Starch, Oil and Animal Feed Industries Ltd at Mirzapur in Tangail on Saturday evening, said a press release.
Dr Razzaque said the country's annual output of maize or corn had been increasing notably amid rising demands, mainly for poultry, fish and animal feeds.
The country needs to explore the diversified use of maize and corn oil could be a better alternative, he said.
The minister said the domestic production of corn oil could help minimise the cost of edible oil import, while it could also ensure nutrition-rich edible oil.
Farmers would get more profits by growing corn if local industries start extraction of the crop for edible oil, he said.
He urged the private sector to invest in the corn oil production where they would get all support from the government.
The Bangladesh Wheat and Maize Research Institute (BWMRI) officials also said the country have a capacity to produce 0.12 million tonnes of corn oil amounting to Tk 40 billion.
BWMRI Director General Dr Israil Hossen said 5.4 million tonnes of maize was produced domestically from 0.55 million hectares of land.
Ninety-five per cent of the corn is used in feed industry, he mentioned.
Dr Hossen said corn oil is healthier than that of other cooking oils like soybean and sunflower as it has no protein and carbohydrate while contains almost 100 per cent of fat.
It also has more Vitamin K and Vitamin E than that of sunflower oil, added Dr Hossen.
Nasir Glassware and Tube Industries General Manager Md Fazlur Rahman, Deputy General Manager Md Kazimul Bashar, also spoke, among others.