The oilseeds Economy of India by P S George, Uma K Srivastava and B M Desai; The Macmillan Company of India, Madras, 1978;
Oilseeds: A Comprehensive View B L Kumar THE vital role that the oilseeds play in the country's economy needs no emphasis. With a current production of 12 million tonnes, valued at Rs 2,400 crores, oilseeds constitute the second largest agricultural crop, after food- grains. Despite this the country has not yet attained self-sufficiency in vegetable oils and fats. The net gap between supply and demand in respect of oils ami fats has been continuously widening for the past few years. The government has depended on imports to bridge the gap but, the country being short of foreign exchange, imports have had to be restricted. To the extent it is not possible to meet the entire demand for a certain agricultural commodity from domestic production, and imports, equilibrium between supply and demand comes through price rise. Such increase, being inflationary, is not congenial to overall agricultural development and growth of the economy. It is, therefore, important that in the planning process, the course of demand for and supply of oilseeds should be projected as realistically as possible and attempt should be made to match these at different points of time with a view to identifying the magnitude of the likely gaps and the resources needed to fill these gaps.
