The prices of oil are increasing rapidly in the country. The price of mustard oil is also increasing continuously. Meanwhile, the central government has moved towards distributing free seed packets to the people. Officials familiar with the move say that India’s policy makers, concerned with rising prices of edible oils due to the high import cost of oilseeds, have decided to distribute free seed packets. For this, the strategy of Green Revolution-era will be used. They hope that this will increase domestic production of oilseeds and reduce dependence on imports.
The Union Agriculture Ministry is giving thousands of free packets of high quality oilseeds to farmers for the summer crop season in about one third of the districts of the country. The plan was discussed with the state governments in April. “The government is giving about 8 lakh soybean seed mini-kits and 74 thousand peanut mini-kits to the farmers to increase production,” said an official.
Oil prices have increased by up to 60 percent. The average price of one liter mustard oil increased to Rs 170 in May, from Rs 120 in the same period last year. Similarly, groundnut oil, soya oil, palm oil and sunflower oil prices are at a decade high.