Along with increase in support price of oilseeds, government procurement is also necessary.

20-Jun-2024 05:54 PM

New Delhi. The Central Government has increased the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of oilseeds - groundnut, sesame, soybean,

sunflower and nigerseed to be produced in the Kharif season of 2024-25 by 6.3 to 12.7 percent, but the government has to take some necessary steps to ensure its benefit to the farmers.

According to the available data, compared to last year, this time the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of groundnut has been increased by 6.4 percent to Rs 6783 per quintal,

the support price of soybean has increased by 6.3 percent to Rs 4892 per quintal, sunflower by 7.7 percent to Rs 7280 per quintal, sesame by 7.3 percent to Rs 9267 per quintal and the MSP of nigerseed has been increased by 12.7 percent to Rs 8717 per quintal.

India is the fifth largest oilseed-oil economy in the world, but it is discussed on the global stage especially because it remains the world's largest importer of edible oils.

Trade analysts say that due to the huge import of cheap edible oils from abroad, Indian farmers do not get attractive or profitable prices for their oilseeds.

The government will have to take necessary precautionary steps to control the import of edible oils. In the last season, the import of edible oils within the country jumped to a new record level of about 165 lakh tonnes.

The wholesale market price of soybean in loose has come down to below the government support price. The government tries to purchase oilseed crops in limited quantities for a few days after harvesting and after that it is stopped. Due to this, most of the farmers are not able to get the benefit of minimum support price.