Here is an essay on ‘Yellow Revolution in India’ for class 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12. Find paragraphs, long and short essays on ‘Yellow Revolution in India’ especially written for school and college students.
Essay on Yellow Revolution in India
Essay Contents:
- Essay on Introduction to Yellow Revolution
- Essay on the Consumption of Yellow Revolution
- Essay on the Low Productivity of Yellow Revolution
- Essay on the Course of Yellow Revolution
- Essay on the Historical Perspective of Yellow Revolution
Essay # 1. Introduction to Yellow Revolution:
India’s oilseeds output in 2008-09 were estimated to be 28.16 million tonnes, which is quite deficient as the demand stood at 45.46 million tonnes. The output in 2009-10 is projected to fall due to deficient monsoon this year. It has stood at 25 million tonnes since 1998-99. Oilseeds production accounts for 7.4 per cent of the global production and is considered as the fourth-largest edible oil country in the world.
The earlier policy allowing free import of oilseeds was detrimental to the interests of oilseeds growing farmers and a set-back on development of oilseeds for achieving self-sufficiency. As a result, the country remained dependent on imported edible oils. There has been a significant increase in imports of crude palm oil from Malaysia and Indonesia.
The ‘yellow revolution’ in oilseeds owes its earlier success to a spectacular increase in output to 24.75 million tonnes in 1998-99 from 10.83 million tonnes in 1985-86. But thereafter, we have not been able to achieve self-sufficiency in oilseeds. Current production is not enough to meet the needs of cooking oils of our growing population.
The annual demand has risen to over 125 lac tonnes whereas, production is hardly around 75 lac tonnes. The shortage is met by imports every year from Argentina, Brazil, Malaysia and Indonesia. Annual oilseeds imports, which account for about five million tonnes, cost Rs. 15,873.6 crores in 2008-09 from Rs. 10,942.54 crores in 2007-08. It is estimated that the demand in 2020 may touch 20.8 million tonnes, requiring a production of 60 million tonnes of oilseeds, and that the per capita oil consumption may rise to 16 kg annually.
Essay # 2. Consumption
of Yellow Revolution:
Edible oil is an important constituent of the Indian diet. Besides being a source of energy, they add a special flavour and palatability to food. The annual per capita consumption is 11.1 kg against the world average of 14.5 kg and the average of 26 kg in developed countries. Edible oil consumption is likely to increase with rising of per capita income.
However, the daily in-take of fat should not contribute more than 15-20 per cent calories. There is potential to produce about 25 lac tonnes of oil from non-conventional sources, but hardly about eight lac tonnes are being utilized. It is important to work out a strategy to exploit maximum potential from these sources.
The spectacular success of the yellow revolution in 1998-99 could be attributed to an increase in the cultivable area to about 26 million hectares and an integrated approach that gave over-riding priority through a technology mission. Aimed at accelerating self-reliance in oilseeds, the approach adopted envisaged developing and taking modern technological inputs to farmers, thereby providing them incentive prices and storage and processing facilities.
The National Dairy Board was entrusted with the task to develop groundnut production in Gujarat through farmers’ oilseeds societies. The national Oilseeds and Vegetable Oils Development Board was entrusted to popularize oilseeds in non-traditional areas. Also, an oilseeds production thrust project was initiated to accelerate production of four major oilseeds — groundnut, mustard-rapeseed, soybean and sunflower.
Essay # 3. Low Productivity
of Yellow Revolution:
The integrated oilseeds development programme was initiated in different states with more than 3,000 oilseed societies involving 13 lac farmers and 25 lac hectares of land. Despite these efforts, our oilseeds productivity continues to be as low as 944 kg per hectare when compared to the world level at 1,632 kg per hectare.
At present, there is not much scope to expand the cultivable area under oilseeds. The continuing shortage of cooking oils would suggest that the Oilseeds Technology Mission and growing oil palms have had little impact. These energy-rich crops suffer from a number of constraints as they are grown in poor environment and are susceptible to pests and diseases. Besides, farmers preferred to grow high-yielding cereals to earn higher profits. However, in the recent past, improved technology has been developed to boost output.
As major crops, oilseeds meet the country’s needs for edible oils. A second yellow revolution is crying need of the hour. Also, a technical breakthrough in dry land farming is needed to maximize yield, productivity and farm income. Achieving the aim of making the country self-sufficient in oilseeds would have a great impact on agriculture and the economy and would help reduce dependence on foreign markets.
Essay # 4. The Course of Yellow Revolution
:
Oilseeds production scenario in India has witnessed a dramatic turn. The country achieved a status of ‘self-sufficient and net exporter’ during early nineties, rising from the ‘net importer’ state, with a mere annual production of nearly 11 million tonnes from the annual oilseed crops, until the year 1986-87.
In a span of just a decade, an all time record oilseeds production of 25 million tonnes from annual oilseed crops was attained during 1996-97. This transformation has been termed as “The Yellow Revolution” and could be primarily attributed to the institutional support, particularly the setup of the Technology Mission on Oilseeds in 1986.
Significant outcome of the Mission and other related developments included the following:
i. The improved oilseeds production technology
ii. The expansion in cultivated area, and
iii. The price support policy.
As a result, the gains made possible were none short of a revolution and were rightly named as the yellow revolution.
The India is among the largest oil economies in the region/world. The country also occupies a distinct position in terms of diversity in annual oilseed crops. The prevailing agro- ecological conditions have been favourable for growing several important annual oilseeds, including edible (namely, groundnut, rapeseed-mustard, soybean, sunflower, safflower, sesame and niger) and non-edible oilseeds (namely, castor and linseed).
In addition, a wide range of other minor oilseeds and oil bearing tree species add to the diversity as well as oilseed production in the country. India contributes a large share to the global castor production (76.9 percent) and also a substantial one to production of sesame (31.2 per cent) and groundnut (25.1 percent).
The country is the largest producer of castor and sesame and second largest Producer of groundnut and rapeseed-mustard (next to China). A production jump from 4.9 million tonnes to 8.8 million tonnes in terms of oil equivalent recorded a high annual growth of 6.9 per cent as against 5.0 and 3.4 per cent for the region and the world, respectively.
The other countries in the region that showed substantial increase in production (oil equivalent) and growth were Indonesia (8.2 per cent) and Malaysia (6.4 per cent) which could, however, be attributed mainly to increased production in oil palm, in both cases. China topped in production figures in 1995 (12.5 million tonnes) but recorded a low annual growth (3.1 per cent).
The Indian vegetable oil industry achieved domestic turnover of above US $ 10,000 million during 1996-97. Its international trade in oil and oil meals annually accounted for US $ 1,850 million, The country further produced over 7 million tonnes of compound feed per annum, with an annual growth rate of 8-10 per cent.
It is important to observe that with a record production of about 25 million tonnes of oilseeds from an area of nearly 27 million hectares and productivity of 931 kg/ha during 1996-97, the oilseeds area, production and productivity in India have increased nearly 2.5 times, 5 times and 2 times, respectively, since 1950-51. The role of technology in fostering and sustaining the production has been effectively realized. Further, the technology was economically viable and sustainable.
It sustained the growth that was achieved in spite of different adverse factors, such as; the moisture and nutrient scarcity conditions, among others. Having achieved sustainability in growth is commendable particularly when the area under irrigation rallied around 25 per cent and the annual vegetable oilseeds are grown mostly under such conditions.
The phenomenal growth in all sectors related to production and productivity of diverse oilseed crops is a sure success. Other countries in the region may harness similar opportunities depending upon the respective situations and technologies available for transfer. Above all, this success signals an important message in favour of possibilities to combine results of agro biodiversity, productivity and profitability.
Essay # 5. Historical Perspective
of Yellow Revolution:
The Technology Mission on Oilseeds:
The turning point was the year 1986. The annual production of oilseed crops was virtually stagnating at about 10 million tonnes over a span of more than 15 years in spite of a considerable increase in area under oilseed crops from 10.73 m ha in 1950-51 to 19.02 m ha in 1985-86. Till mid-eighties, the growth in output also lagged far behind the growth in demand, thus forcing the government to resort to large scale import of edible oils (to the tune of US $ 1,100 million during 1981-86) to bridge the demand-supply gap.
Realizing the fact, the Government of India appointed the Technology Mission on Oilseeds in May 1986, with the objective to create/manage conditions that would harness the best of production, processing and storage technologies to attain self-reliance in edible oils in the foreseeable future. A target of producing 16-18 million tonnes of the nine annual oilseeds (groundnut, rapeseed- mustard, soybean, sunflower, safflower, sesame, niger, linseed and castor) was fixed to substantially cut down the imports by the year 1990.
The scope of the Mission and strategies to be adopted to achieve the objective were set well before the onset of the Mission in February 1986, which is elaborated in the excerpts from the then Prime Minister’s speech as given below – One of our biggest problems today in the agricultural sector is oilseeds. We are setting up a thrust Mission for oilseeds production. When we talk of a Mission, we mean an exercise starting from the engineering of the seeds and finishing with the finished products of the vegetable oil (and the byproducts like oil meal) which could be delivered to the consumer.
The Mission started functioning as a consortium of concerned Govt. departments, namely, Agricultural Research and Education (DARE), Agriculture and Cooperation (DoAC), Civil Supplies (DoCS), Commerce (DoC), Science and Technology (DST), Biotechnology (DBT), Planning, Health, Irrigation and Economic Affairs.
The Mission adopted a four-pronged strategy under the following Mini-Missions:
Mini-Mission-I:
Improvement of crop production and protection technologies for realizing higher yields and profit to farmers.
Mini-Mission-II:
Improvement of processing and post harvest technology to minimize the losses and increase the oil yield from both traditional and non-traditional sources of oil.
Mini-Mission-III:
Strengthening the input support system to ensure availability of right kind of seed, fertilizers, pesticides, irrigation, credit, etc. and to bring awareness among farmers about the potential of the farm worthy technology through massive transfer of technology programmes.
Mini- Mission-IV:
Improvement of post harvest operations for effective procurement, handling, disposal including price support system to farmers and financial and other supports to processing industry.
The nodal departments, participating organizations and their respective functional areas under different Mini-Missions were clearly defined to enable a smooth interaction, efficiency and effective output.
Growth in Annual Oilseeds Production:
Thanks to the Oilseeds Technology Mission, India witnessed a spurt in the annual oilseeds production. Area, production and productivity of main annual oilseed crops in India and farmer oriented programmes launched by the Mission along with better availability of crop production technologies, inputs, services and support price policy were together responsible for the achievements.
During the past decade, soybean registered the highest compound annual growth rate of production followed by castor, sunflower and rapeseed-mustard. The simultaneous growth in area, production and productivity observed under rain fed crops has no parallel in the region/world. Presently, oilseeds occupy nearly 13 per cent of the gross cropped area and account for 5 per cent of the gross national product and 10 per cent of the value of all agricultural products.
Among the oilseed crops, groundnut, rapeseed-mustard and soybean recorded a major share, in terms of both area (74 per cent) and production (84 per cent), of oilseeds in the country. In terms of growth in productivity, castor topped the list followed by sunflower, soybean and safflower during 1985-86 to 1995-96. The annual per capita availability of edible oils and vanaspati (hydrogenated vegetable oils) increased from 4.0 kg during 1960-61 to 8.2 kg during 1995-96.
The annual vegetable oilseeds are cultivated in 14 states of which eight states, namely, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu accounted for nearly 90 per cent of the oilseeds area and production in the country.
Madhya Pradesh state showed the highest area and production, followed by Rajasthan Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat. Among different oilseeds, rapeseed- mustard is represented as major oilseed crop in 7 states, groundnut in 4 states, and soybean, sesame and niger in one state each.
The oilseed sector has made very important contribution towards foreign exchange earnings. This was achieved from the export of soy meal, castor oil, oil cake/extractions, handpicked selection (HPS) groundnut and sesame seed. In addition, export of branded edible oil in small packs has also been done.
A progressive increase in the value of exports of oilseeds, oil meals and minor oils has been clearly observed. The national export earnings from oilseeds crossed US $ 1,000 million during the year 1996-97 of which the contribution from exports of oil meals was US $ 900 million.
Government of India allowed free import of edible oils under Open General License (OGL) at 20 per cent import duty with effect from 23 July, 1996 as against the prevailing duty of 30 per cent for private trade and 20 per cent for state agencies. This arrangement affected an increased import of edible oil Palmolein accounted for 80 per cent of the imports touching around 1.75 million tonnes during 1996-97, which was mainly due to liberal import policies, lower external prices rather than low production/availability.
The increased requirement may be partly attributed to the increased economic access on part of the poor. Nevertheless, the tremendous growth in terms of oilseed production has been a very important national achievement.
The rate of growth of production of vegetable oils during the past decade was 6.9 per cent whereas the corresponding demand has been increasing at the rate of about 6 per cent per annum, touching 9.23 million tonnes during 1996-97. With this substantial growth in production, the domestic supply of vegetable oils reached 7.28 million tonnes and the gap of 1.95 million tonnes in demand was filled through imports.
The increase in the demand for edible oils was mainly attributed to socio-economic factors, such as the rise in income (purchasing power) of people (vis-a-vis demand) and the high liberalized imports (vis- a-vis supply).
Supplementary Sources of Vegetables Oils:
Minor Crops and Tree Origin Oilseeds:
A considerable oil potential occurred in this category, which contribute about 16 per cent of the vegetable oil consumption in India. Oil has been obtained from rice bran, cotton seed, corn and oil cakes besides seeds of underutilized plants like jatropha, tumba etc. or of tree origin such as sal, mango kernel, neem, mahua and several others.
It has been estimated that the current level of availability of vegetable oils from these sources (1.38 million tonnes) could be further stepped up, given their tremendous potential (3.08 million tonnes). The production of rice bran oil, cotton seed oil, solvent extraction from oilcakes and the oils from minor crops and tree origin oilseeds has been estimated at 0.48 million tonnes, 0.45 million tonnes, 0.32 million tonnes and 0.13 million tonnes, respectively.
Oil Palm – Another Prospective Source:
Oil palm is an alternative and potential long term source of edible oil which is expected to contribute significantly towards meeting the growing edible oil demand. It can yield, on an average, four tonnes of vegetable oil per hectare as compared to less than half a tonne from other annual oilseed crops. Presently, the oil palm is cultivated in an area of 39,413 ha, as against the potential area of 0.8 million hectares spread across 11 states in the country.
Nearly, one million tonne of palm oil production is expected in near future that will be about 10 per cent of the country’s demand. With the possible entry of oil palm in a big way, the cheapest oil source in the international market owing to its highest oil yield per unit area and low cost of cultivation, there is a likelihood of major changes in the market shares of different oilseeds.
Nevertheless, an enhancement in the production of oil palm will further add to the success. In oilseed/oil production in India, which may be an experience well shared with other countries in the region.
Research set up and Breeders’ Seed Production:
India has the largest research network for the development of location specific oilseeds crop production technologies. It includes the All India Coordinated Research Project on Oilseeds (AICRPO) and the Directorate of Oilseeds Research (DOR) at Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh), three National Research Centres, one each for soybean at Indore (Madhya Pradesh) groundnut at Junagadh (Gujarat) and rapeseed-mustard at Bharatpur (Rajasthan).
Besides, the State Agricultural Universities, other ICAR institutes and private/corporate sector have also been involved in oilseeds research and development programmes. A multitude of improved technologies have been generated and transferred on to farmers’ fields over the time through this network.
The oilseed research set up in the public sector has about 500 well trained scientists engaged in research and technology generation purposes. Realizing the fact that quality seed is the most crucial, critical and vital input to enhance productivity of oilseed crops, separate breeders’ seed production units in these crops were also established. Consequently the breeder seed production, as a basic input to quality seed production, increased 3.7 folds.
Improved Crop Production Technology:
During the past two decades, over 240 improved varieties/hybrids have been developed in annual oilseeds, which have shown 9 to 38 per cent yield superiority over the local cultivars. A further scope is envisaged to capitalize on this potential area with the development 26 of varieties/hybrids which can out yield 50 per cent more or even higher than the existing varieties under farmers’ field.
Hybrids and Improved Varieties:
Development of two safflower hybrids in India is recorded as the ‘first’ in the world. The safflower hybrid DSH-129, developed by the Directorate of Oilseeds Research, Hyderabad and released for commercial cultivation for all safflower growing areas in the country, has an average yield potential of 1750 kg/ha.
It offered 22 per cent higher seed yield and 29 per cent higher oil yield over the presently grown varieties during rabi/summer season in black soils. The development and release of hybrids in castor namely, DCH-32 and GCH-4 and a high yielding variety DCS-9 (Jyoti) revolutionized castor production in the country.
New hybrids in sunflower and castor that were brought out in series have provided new opportunities. A few more hybrids in rapeseed- mustard are round the corner. Efforts are also on to evolve hybrid in sesame. Breeding efforts in oilseed crops to meet the objectives such as the oil content in the seed, resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses, reduced crop duration etc. have been quite successful.
Improved Packages of Cultivation Practices:
To maximize yield gains from improved technology in terms of varieties/hybrids, agronomic packages for efficient crop management have been developed for different crops and situations, which assured better results.
Plant Genetic Resources:
Sustained utilization of the genetic resources in different oilseeds augmented through collection/introduction of native/exotic plant species and the genetic stocks developed by crop specific breeding programmes contributed effectively towards breeding of improved varieties. The exotic oilseed crops/varieties, particularly soybean and sunflower, have also helped produce good results.
Support Price Policy:
Considering the fact that oilseed crops being considerably influenced by market forces are prone to wide fluctuations in prices of oilseeds, a positive view was taken by the government, which resulted in increased support price of oilseed as compared with other crops over the years.
The ruling open market prices had been about 20 per cent higher than the support prices during the harvest, times and about 50 per cent higher during the lean period. The announcement of support prices before sowing of crops provided the guaranteed market clearance and thereby geared up a switch over from cultivation of staple cereal crop(s) to market oriented non-food crops.
As a part of the Market Intervention Operations (MIO) by the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), the imported oil (other than that released through the public distribution system) was channelized into the market and the vanaspati industry, and buying, stocking and selling of oilseeds/oils continued to be undertaken in the domestic market.
The NDDB also introduced vegetable oil in the consumer packs under the brand name of ‘Dhara’, (meaning ‘The Flow’), which not only narrowed the range of prices of different edible oils ( thereby discouraging adulteration of costlier oils with cheaper ones, being an economically unattractive proposition) but also helped in popularizing blended edible oils.
Extension and Training in Oilseeds Technology:
Technology Transfer-Frontline Demonstrations:
With a view to demonstrate under real farm situations the productivity potentials and profitability of a spectrum of improved oilseeds crop production technologies, evolved by the oilseeds research network in the country from time to time, on-farm demonstrations were organized through various technology transfer programmes of the Central and State Governments, State Agricultural Universities and voluntary organizations.
Among the most successful of such programmes figured the “Frontline Demonstrations in Oilseeds” Project, a component of the Oilseeds Production and Development Programme (OPDP) of the Government of India that supplemented the Oilseed Technology Mission. During 1990-91 to 1996-97, more than 8,000 demonstrations were organized in different oilseed crops across various agro-ecological and crop growing situations.
It has been unequivocally proved over years that the improved technologies offered yield advantage ranging from 24 per cent to 107 per cent over the prevailing farming practices, with the benefit – cost ratio varying from 1.35 to 3.33 across different crops, regions and situations. These demonstrations tremendously convinced the farmers of the efficacy of improved technologies, thereby promoting their on-farm adoption.
Training and Education:
Several short and medium term training programmes were organized and thousands of extension functionaries have been trained over the time by oilseeds research network involving ICAR, SAUs and other development organizations.
The trainees included officials from the State Departments of Agriculture of different states, such as subject matter specialists, Joint/Deputy/Assistant Directors of Agriculture, Project Officers of OPDP of State/GOI, scientists from SAUs, extension personnel of other voluntary organizations and progressive farmers. The untiring and sustained efforts by the oilseeds research and extension machinery to disseminate the knowledge on improved technology included-
i. Publication and distribution of Package of cultivation practices for increasing production’ for each of the oilseed crops in English, Hindi and regional languages;
ii. Publication and distribution of technical bulletins on specific weed/insect/disease management technologies, seed production and frontline demonstrations,
iii. Use of mass media such as video films on improved crop cultivation practices, radio talks and television programmes by scientists, and
iv. Organization of field days/farmers’ rallies etc., among others.
Institutional Support and Linkages:
Besides linking the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP), the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation (NAFED), the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), Oilseeds Growers’ Societies (village level) and Oilseeds Growers’ Federations (state level) for implementing the support price policy, projects to evolve and perfect new technologies for oilseeds and transfer these on to farmers’ fields were initiated.
A development project for groundnut was launched in 1980-81 and that for soybean in 1981-82. Also, a programme for distribution of mini kits of improved seeds and fertilizers for oilseeds was started in 1980-81. Indigenous annual oilseed crops like sesame have got adequate attention for varietal development and seed production.
Exotic soybeans have also drawn particular attention of breeders and seed producers in India In 1985-86, the National Oilseeds Development Project (NODP) was launched with a view to accelerating the production of four major oilseeds, namely, groundnut, rapeseed-mustard, soybean and sunflower.
Under this programme, seeds of improved varieties, plant protection chemicals, fertilizers and Rhizobium culture were made available to the growers at subsidized rates. The efforts of State Departments of Agriculture, ICAR institutes and SAUs were devoted towards demonstrating the potentials of improved technologies on farmers’ fields.
Initially, the efforts were concentrated in potential areas of 12 states, but later the project was extended to 180 districts of 17 states in the country. While the interaction of remunerative prices and new technology started showing its positive impact on the production of oilseeds, the need for integrated efforts on harnessing the best of production, processing and management technologies of the oilseed economy was strongly felt.
Towards this end, the Technology Mission on Oilseeds (TMO) launched in May 1986, “Oilseeds Production Thrust Project (OPTP)” initiated in 1987-88, covering 246 districts of 17 states and later extended to more areas, helped in attaining the developmental goals. To provide further operational teeth, in 1990-91, the NODP and OPTP were-merged under one programme, namely, the Oilseeds Production Programme (OPP).
The following factors played their crucial role in bringing success to the oilseed mission and thereby the yellow revolution in India.
i. Strong socio-economic and political will to become self-sufficient in vegetable oils,
ii. Biodiversity and the matching diversity in agro-ecology and farming situations for various annual oilseed crops, in spite of the paucity of more prospective oil crops such as the oil palm.
iii. Economically viable and sustainable improved oilseeds production technologies generated with the help of strong and vibrant oilseeds research network coupled with encouraging financial and policy supports to research.
iv. Attractive incentives to the farmers in terms of minimum support prices and input subsidies.
v. Institutional support for the overall oilseeds research and development by public, corporate and private sectors, particularly the setting up of the Technology Mission on Oilseeds by the Government of India.
vi. Effective implementation, monitoring and periodical evaluation of the technology transfer programmes, especially the “Frontline Demonstrations in Oilseeds” Project.
vii. Integrated, effective, efficient and transparent functional farmer-research- industry- policy interface.
The achievement of self-sufficiency in vegetable oils in India that nullified the foreign exchange drain witnessed during eighties is a sure success. This could be an example to follow in the Asia Pacific region whereby other countries may achieve similar results. The holistic approach in the form of mission mode adopted by the Government of India to tackle the problem of burgeoning import bill on edible oil front is worth commendation.
However, since the oilseed crops are sensitive to market forces and are mostly grown in moisture and nutrition scarce conditions, sustaining the success in the long run is not so easy a task. Sufficient rethinking has to be done in several spheres to sustain and flourish. Research funding by the Government needs to be continued/strengthened for oilseeds research and development in the era of liberalized world trade.
All the research priorities/activities need to be organized/refined in a matrix mode of operation. The support price policy needs to be continued and strengthened. The market mechanism of offering higher price for quality oilseeds with higher oil content and of better quality may have to be searched for.
Quality consideration of oilseeds is desired as a matter of principle. This would encourage and provide a sense of direction to the oilseed growers and researchers alike. The “seasonally variable import duty” may have to be continuously followed to safeguard the overall interests of oilseed sector.
Owing to wide intra and inter seasonal fluctuations in commodity prices of oilseeds and vegetable oils, the move to allow “futures trading” in these commodities needs to be hastened. Since oilseeds generally require less water as compared to many other crops, irrigation water charges should be commensurate with the water used rather than on flat area basis. India should strive to export value added products instead of exporting direct items like oilseeds, oil and oil cakes.
Castor oil which forms the basis for many oleo-chemicals has a great potential. Hydrogenated castor oil, dehydrated castor oil, sebacicacid, undecylimic acid heptaldehyde are some important oleo-chemicals with high value and can earn larger foreign exchange. Similarly, mustard oil which is rich in erucic acid is a useful industrial raw material.
Cultivation of varieties with low/zero levels of toxic constituents or adoption of some detoxification techniques can improve the export of some seeds and cakes. The existing farmer-research-industry-policy sectoral interface needs to be strengthened for achieving the overall development of the oilseed sector in terms of commercial exploitation of untapped yield reservoir, value addition to oilseeds and their products/byproducts, demand driven research agenda and congenial public policy environment.