The Saurashtra Oil Mills Association (SOMA) today urged the Centre to import edible oil seeds instead importing edible oil for revival of the oil mills in the Saurashtra region.
"Oil mill owners in Saurashtra region are facing a tough time to survive as the Union Government is importing edible oil. As result, oil mill owners are on the verge of closing their grinding units in the region," SOMA president Sameer Shah said here during 65th annual general meeting of SOMA.
The trade body, which had over 1,000 members in past, currently has only 200 members, as most of the oil mill owners have shut their units, Shah said.
"The union government should import oil seeds and stop importing edible oil. We are also facing shortage of groundnut due to a drop in groundnut production. As per government estimates, groundnut production will remain at mere 10 to 12 lakh tonnes this year, which was 25 lakh tonnes last year in the state" he said.
Shah also claimed that groundnut farmers are turning away from the crop. "Farmers are turning towards cash crops as they are not getting sufficient price for groundnut. As a result, acreage under groundnut cultivation, which was around 17 lakh hectare in Gujarat last year, is shrunk to 11 lakh hectare this year," said Shah.
During the meeting, SOMA members also held both the state and Centre responsible for not purchasing groundnut in ample quantity and requested the authorities to increase their intake to encourage farmers to cultivate groundnut.
