In order to boost domestic production, oilseeds trade body -- Central Organization for Oil Industry & Trade (COOIT) has urged the government to promote the cultivation of genetically modified (GM) oilseeds in the country. It highlighted that India's dependence on imports, which was only 10 per cent in 1994-95, has gone up to about 70 per cent, mainly because of low productivity and increasing demand driven by improvement in living standards and growing population.
It said ‘Under the current situation of inadequate availability of edible oilseeds from domestic sources, COOIT has suggested that the government should promote the cultivation of GM oilseeds in the country’. COOIT Chairman Babu Lal Data cautioned that if indigenous productivity and production do not go up significantly, the country's dependence on imported oil will increase considerably. Data said ‘Considering the prevailing situation and for the immediate relief to consumers, the government may consider removing the applicable 5 per cent GST on edible oils’.
According to COOIT, the country's annual per capita consumption has shown an increasing trend from 15.8 kg in 2012-13 to current levels of 19-19.5 kg. However, at 1,200 kg/hectare, Indian oilseed yields are about half of the world's average and less than one-third of top producers. Established in 1958, COOIT is the national apex body representing the interests of the entire vegetable oil sector in the country and its members include state-level associations, prominent manufacturing/business, trade and export houses.
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