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Towards Another Edible Oil Crisis?
THE Union agriculture minister Buta Singh is reported to have stated at the second meeting of the National Oilseeds and Vegetable Oils Development Board (NOVODB) held in New Delhi on October 24 that in tte context of the easy edible oil supply situation and limited price fluctuations, the civil supplies ministry was being urged to review imports and revise supply price in such a way as not to discourage efforts of domestic oilseeds producers. He referred to a suggestion 10 permit the vanaspati industry to use mustard oil to reduce imports for sustaining vanaspati units. Further, Buta Singh said that diversification would be the main plank of the strategy for achieving the 18 million- tonne target by the end of the Seventh Plan and that this would consist of getting more groundnut production in summer under irrigated conditions, expansion of acreage under sunflower and safflower in the southern dryland areas and increasing productivity of oil palm in Kerala and Andamans.