India holds a significant share in world oil seed production. The oilseed accounts for 13% of the Gross Cropped Area, 3% of the Gross National Product and 10% value of all agricultural commodities. The diverse agro-ecological conditions in the country are favourable for growing 9 annual oilseed crops, which include 7 edible oilseeds (groundnut, rapeseed & mustard, soybean, sunflower, sesame, safflower and niger) and two non-edible oilseeds (castor and linseed). Oilseeds cultivation is undertaken across the country in about 27 million hectares mainly on marginal lands, of which 72% is confined to rainfed farming.

   The major regions in India that produce Oilseeds are:

• India’s largest oilseed producing state is Gujarat, thanks to its position as top groundnut producing state of India.
• Rajasthan is India’s top Rapeseed & Mustard producing state, followed by Madhya Pradesh and Haryana. Almost half (48.12%) of Rapeseed and Mustard is produced by only Rajasthan.
• India’s top Soyabean producing state is Madhya Pradesh with a share of 44% in India’s total production of this protein rich crop.
• Among other oil crops, Karnataka is largest producer of Sunflower.

Despite such huge production of oilseeds, India’s dependence on imports of oilseeds is increasing by the day. India’s vegetable oil imports crossed 14.5 million tonnes in 2016, worth around Rs 66,000 crores or around US $10 billion. About  60 per cent of the edible oil-related imports are of palmolein, with the remaining made up by soybean, sunflower and rapeseed. The reasons for the same are:

• Demand-supply gap: Huge demand-supply gap exists and India is number one edible oil importer of the world. The 60-65% import dependency worsens during the unfavourable monsoon years.
• Rising demand: Domestic demand for vegetable oils and fats has been rising rapidly at the rate of 6% per year but domestic output has been increasing at just about 2 per cent per annum.
• Unhealthy dietary habits: The WHO recommended annual per capita oil consumption is 10.5 kgs, Indians consume 14.8 kgs. Not enough effort is being put to curb unhealthy dietary habits, or ensuring that those who consume lower than recommended levels, get their share of edible oil through the Public Distribution System at subsidised prices.
• Poor Agricultural Planning: Mustard experts point out that on at least 2 million hectares of paddy land in India, which remains fallow after the monsoon season of paddy cultivation, relay cropping of mustard can be taken up which will use residual moisture, and could yield an additional 3.5 to 4 million tonnes of rapeseed-mustard. There is proof of concept in place already in non-conventional mustard-growing areas.
• Low yield: In India, the average yields of most oilseeds are extremely low as compared to those other countries of the world.
• Rain-fed cultivation: Most of oilseed production is rain-fed and high risk regions where there are uncertain returns on the investments.
• Failure of Oilseed missions after 2007-08: The Oilseeds Mission in the 1980s and 1990s increased the area as well as yield of oilseeds impressively. As a result, up until 2007-08, India’s edible oil production exceeded its imports. Post that, the mission has poor direction with low output.
• Non-adoption of GM crops: The lack of conclusive evidence from GEAC, fears of corporate monopoly and illiteracy of farmers are hindering the adoption of GM crops. The proven facts of higher yield are being missed.

The measures to increase our oilseed production and reduce import bills are:

• Farm-level measures
  1. Irrigation increases the yield. Example: groundnut oil production swings up and down on a wide basis with just 20-25 per cent of the crop under irrigation. Soybean oil, production of which nearly doubled between 2003-04 and 2013-14, has been able to contribute what it did with just less than 1% of the crop under irrigation cover (in contrast, rapeseed-mustard crops have 70-75 per cent irrigation cover).
  2. Targeted focus based on the agro-climatic conditions and incentivisation of farmers to cultivate the suitable crop of region. Example: oil palm cultivation where India imports the maximum from South-east Asian countries.
  3. Large scale adoption of agro-ecological methods like System of Crop Intensification, Relay Cropping is needed. This will not only increase productivity but also reduce use of water resources, and reduce cost of cultivation for farmers.
• Institution-level measures
  1. Better extension systems with downward accountability with the last mile extension gaps plugged as is happening with many agro-ecology centred programmes, productivity can be improved. The practising farmers become Community level Resource Persons (CRPs).
  2. Community level planning processes and institutional frameworks have enabled better utilisation of scarce resources like groundwater for emergency irrigation for groundnut cultivation in states like Andhra Pradesh. These need to be replicated on a large scale.
• Policy-level measures
  1. Higher import duties for imported oil, Remunerative prices, Assured procurement, Domestic pricing will enthuse farmers by increasing their net returns.
  2. Policies and missions like NMOOP, ISOPOM to incentivise the very cultivation of oilseeds on a per hectare basis.
  3. Provide incentives to private sector participation in processing and value addition in oilseed crops. Also, constraints for low capacity utilization should be addressed.
• Research and Development
  1. There is a need to enlarge the scope of research, technology diffusion and institutional intervention to re-energize the oil sector.
  2. This would include increase public research spending in oilseed crops for development of biotic and abiotic stress tolerant varieties.

Conclusion:

With growing population and increasing disposable income, the demand for oil will increase. Public funds should be spent on lasting solutions for India’s edible oil crisis.