SEA president Sandeep Bajoria has welcomed the new farm policy of the government, but said that the oilseeds sector is lagging behind. The production of oilseeds was declining and productivity was stagnant.He further said that most of the agricultural farms were very small and marginal and also with the present legislation, contract farming was difficult to enforce, unless the state laws were amended and corporate culture was introduced. The central government must prevail upon the state governments to amend their laws at the earliest which would encourage the large companies to participate in oilseeds farming.

The new farm policy has recommended the formulation of commodity-wise strategies and arrangements to protect farmers from adverse impact of undue price fluctuations in the world market and promote exports.

While it is a much welcomed step, the government should initiate action and ensure remunerative price to the farmers for their produce to encourage the farming. In case of oilseeds sector, the excessive import of edible oils major crops like soyabean, rapeseed and sunflower in last couple of years, were sold below msp during the season and government was forced to undertake support operatons. This had a negative imp ct on farmers and acreages shrank and the production showed a declining trend in last two years.

The government must take steps to regulate excessive import of edible oils through tariff mechanism to protect and support the domestic farmers, othewise, farmers would be discouraged to grow more oilseeds.