Edible oils import duty stays: Pawar

Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar today ruled out any import of sugar or reduction in the Customs duty on edible oils and said the loss in the farm production due to delayed rains was likely to be made up in the current kharif and ensuing rabi seasons.

The country had adequate foodgrain and sugar stocks to meet its requirement, but there was no question of resuming foodgrains exports.

Addressing a press conference, Pawar said his ministry had not sent any proposal for reduction in the import duty on edible oils to bring down domestic prices. Such a move would discourage local farmers to grow more, he said.

The area planted with oilseed crops, so far (around 15.4 million hectares), was relatively larger than the last year's corresponding position of 13.8 million hectares. The standing crops of soyabean and sunflower were in good shape. The groundnut crop in the Saurashtra region was also normal.

In the case of sugarcane, though the area had declined this year to 3.73 million hectares, against the last year's 4.6 million hectares, the total sugar production, along with the carryover from the previous season, would be enough to meet domestic demand.

Besides, fresh sugarcane sowing had already begun after the revival of the rains and Maharashtra's next cane crop, normally planted in October-November, was expected to be good.

Giving details of the sugar availability, the minister said there would be a carryover of around 11.6 million tonnes of sugar for the next season beginning in October. Despite the setback, the total production next year would not fall substantially, he said.

"The next season, too, will end with a surplus sugar of around 8 million tonnes, after taking care of the domestic consumption of 17.5 to 18 million tonnes", he maintained.

Asked about imports, he asserted that there was no need for that. However, some import of raw sugar was taking place as part of the long-term export-import policy which allowed it to be imported for re-export after refining. Only about 300,000 tonnes of raw sugar had been imported so far, he said.

Talking about overall agricultural scene, Pawar said the worries about the drought were over in most areas except in the western Uttar Pradesh, where the rainfall was still very deficient. The damage due to the delayed rains would be largely made up. In fact, delayed rains would help improve rabi crop prospects.

The total foodgrain stocks in the beginning of July were 29.91 million tonnes (19.15 million tonnes wheat and 10.76 million tonnes rice), against the buffer stocking norm of 24 million tonnes. Most states, which were hit by drought or floods, had been released advanced installments of calamity relief assistance, besides stocking about three months foodgrains requirement there.

The north-eastern states had the highest-ever foodgrains stocks at present""about 200,000 tonnes, against their total foodgrain storage capacity of 250,000 lakh tonnes.

Drought relief assistance of about Rs 498.77 crore had been released from the Calamity Relief Fund for nine states affected by poor rains. These include Andhra Pradesh (Rs 45.14 crore), Gujarat (Rs 73.57 crore), Haryana (Rs 37.06 crore), Jharkhand (Rs 25.84 crore), Madhya Pradesh (Rs 28.55 crore), Maharashtra (Rs 71.65 crore), Rajasthan (Rs 94.35 crore), Punjab (Rs 55.93 crore) and Uttar Pradesh (Rs 66.68 crore).

Besides, the worst affected state of Rajasthan had been supplied additional 100,000 tonnes of foodgrains, valued at nearly Rs 100 crore. Madhya Pradesh was also given 50,000 tonnes of additional foodgrains, valued at Rs 50 crore, to cope with the paucity of rains.

He said the Centre was keen to help Punjab and Haryana to diversity its cropping pattern to grow crops other than wheat and rice.

The agriculture ministry wanted to promote activities like horticulture, animal husbandry, fisheries and micro-irrigation throughout the country. This would help supplement farmers' income, preventing them from committing suicides, he said.