Gadkari calls for developing new seed technology to increase oilseeds productivity
12 October 2021, Indore: The Union Road and Surface Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari here on Sunday said that the duty cut on edible oils import which has primarily been done by the government to reign in rising prices, is not in the interest of farmers. While addressing the international soy conclave in a virtual mode, Gadkari underlined the need of developing the new seed technology in league with major soybean producers so as to increase soybean productivity. He also suggested using soy oil for bioenergy and asked for keeping a tab on mixing of oils. “Those companies who indulge in mixing, must elaborate in bold words as what percentage of oils has been mixed while manufacturing edible oils”, he said.
The inaugural session of the soy conclave was also addressed by Additional Chief Secretary, Agriculture & Farmers’ welfare, Government of Madhya Pradesh, Ajit B Kesari, SOPA chairman, Dr Davish Jain, ICAR-IISR Director, Dr Nita Khandekar. The inaugural ceremony was followed by two technical sessions. In the first technical session, experts including Dr P G Pedgaonkar, Suresh Chitturi, Prerna Desai and Vandana Bharati shed their views on poultry industry, demand and supply forecast for soybean, soy oil and soymeal, while in the second technical session, a panel discussion in price outlook was held.
The panel discussion was attended by Atul Chaturvedi, Sudhakar Desai, Vivek Pathak, Sandeep Bajaria, Manish Gupta, Ajay Parmar, A Janakiraman, Hemant Bansal and Khalid Khan. Arun Raste, MD, NCEDX spoke on price discovery and risk management. The session was also addressed by Pasha Patel, former chairman, CACP, Maharashtra and Mehul Agrawal respectively.
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