-TheThirdPole.net Farmers and consumers are opting to grow coconut trees despite the national push for domestic palm oil production Jeyalakshmi Palaniappan, 55, planted one-and-a-half acres of oil palm in a village in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. But she found cultivating them financially unviable and, nine years later, she uprooted them. Now, she grows coconut trees on another piece of land in the same village, and these are bringing her...

-Down to Earth In 2019, India imported around 15 million tons of edible oils worth approximately Rs 7,300 crore Edible oils are indispensable in the Indian kitchen. But it might be surprising to many that India imports most of the oil it consumes, unlike most other agricultural products which are produced locally. Even after having a diverse agro-climatic conditions, abundant land and large sections of population depending on agriculture, why does India have...

-TheWire.in The rise and fall of the biggest importers of edible oil in the world. ‘Freedom is the greatest fruit of self-sufficiency’ – Epicurus The COVID-19 pandemic has been detrimental for globalisation and has led to a clamour for protectionism. India’s national strategy is also in line with this trend with calls for ‘Atmanirbharta’ and ‘vocal for local’ increasing. Traditionally, India was an exporter of edible oil before Independence, became self-sufficient post-Independence (till the early 1970s),...

-Firstpost.com Satna: A chapati with a pinch of salt and some Mustard OIl is all that Madhu, a three-year-old girl from a hard-pressed tribal community in Madhya Pradesh, gets to eat on a regular basis. Milk and vegetables are rare luxuries that are available when her mother, Mamta, has enough savings to buy provisions from the village market. This mother and daughter are not alone in the deprivation. Madhu and Mamta are...

-The Indian Express The unprecedented procurement of pulses and oilseeds in the last couple of years has created problems — and opportunities. If there’s one area in agriculture where the Narendra Modi government has probably broken fresh ground, it is in the procurement of pulses and oilseeds.   During the 2016-17 and 2017-18 agricultural years (July-June), the Central agencies — National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (Nafed), Small Farmers’ Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC)...