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Union government is planning attractive incentives for farmers who are ready to cultivate more oilseeds and pulses. Since the country has enormous surplus foodgrains, it is necessary to increase the production of oilseeds and pulses in order to reduce the foreign exchange drain. India spends about Rs 9,000 crore for importing pluses and oilseeds to meet the country’s requirement. Government is also in the process of formulating an overall policy for increasing production of oilseeds and pulses and also give confidence to the farmers who take up the challenges in this area so that they can move away from distress sale of these products to a surplus production as they have achieved in the case of foodgrains. We have today 500 lakh tonnes surplus foodgrains in the country, out of which 100 lakh tonnes are lying under the open sky without storage facilities. The government is also planning to increase the export of foodgrains at the international market price (which is less than country’s open market price)- 20 lakh tonnes wheat, 20 lakh tonnes rice and 10 lakh tonnes sugar. Already exported five lakh tonnes of wheat and two lakh tonnes of sugar. |
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