The production of oilseeds has increased from 18.3 million tonnes during 1985-86 to 22.4 million tonnes during 1995-96. This is the result of the efforts of The Technology Mission of Oilseeds and Pulses set up under the ministry of agriculture in 1986. The major gains have been seen in rapeseed-mustard, soyabean, sunflower and castord.
The planning commission has set a target of 23 million tonnes for 1996-97. Of this, the kharif target is 13.2 million tonnes and that of rabi is 9.8 million tonnes. The kharif crop is quite satisfactory and the preliminary estimates indicate the production of kharif oilseeds may around 14.4 million tonnes.
The working group of the ninth five year plan has suggested a production target of 27 million tonnes of oilseeds by 2001-2002. To achieve the target, efforts will be required for augmenting production of rapeseeds-mustard, sunflower, castor and soyabean. In addition, the production of other oilseeds like safflower, sesame and niger will also have to be increased, though the technology for these crops is inadequate.
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There has been a tremendous increase in area under oilseeds, but further expansion of oilseeds area will be difficult. But there are some pockets which lie untapped such as the North-Eastern hill states, Bihar, Orissa, West Bengal and Assam where the cultivation of rabi, groundnut and soyabean can be promoted.
The major thrust will have to be on improving the productivity of oilseeds in which technical advancement has been made. The commission has laid out crop-wise strategy which is as under:
Groundnut: Groundnuts are grown in kharif, rabi and the summer season. The production of groundnuts fluctuate to a great extent as about 80 per cent of the cultivation area is unirrigated. Therefore, the groundnut in kharif season is most unpredictable and is dependent upon the monsoon cycle. This is the basic reason for the high level of fluctuation in production in this crop.
The highest production of groundnut achieved was 9.66 million tonnes during 1988-89, which had one of the best monsoons. Groundnut is basically grown in Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Orissa in kharif season while in rabi and summer seasons, it is grown in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Orissa and Gujarat. During the rabi season, the expansion of area under groundnut cultivation depends upon the availability of irrigation and water reservoirs. Therefore, area expansion may not be possible in the traditional areas of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Orissa.
The productivity of groundnut is hovering around 1,000 kgs/hectare which can be raised to 1,500 kg/hectare. Demonstrations conducted by ICAR show yield levels of up to 1,637 kg/hectare.in kharif and 2,421 kgs/hectare in rabi have been obtained in Karnataka, the average being 2,800 kgs/hectare. Similar demonstrations were carried out in Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu.
Therefore, there is need to increase the productivity levels through the judicious use of monetary and non-monetary inputs. Soyabean: Of late, soyabean has occupied an important position amongst oilseed growers and oil industry. The cultivation of soyabean has increased in the last decade. This crop possesses vast export potential.