The Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi in association with the Indian Society of Oilseeds Research (ISOR) had conducted two-day National Seminar on “Technological Innovations in Oilseeds Crops for Enhancing Productivity, Profitability & Natural Security” at Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University, Hyderabad from 7- 8 February, 2020.
Chief Guest, Dr. Trilochan Mohapatra, Secretary (DARE) & Director General (ICAR) spoke about the issues on all aspects of oilseeds for reducing the import of oil. He emphasized on immediate responsibility of all the citizens for reducing oil consumption. He also urged to make efforts for creating awareness on healthy consumption to the extent of 6 kg / head / year (as per Dr. Balram Bhargava, Director General, Indian Council of Medical Research) on long term that can help reduce the import bill.
The Director General also accentuated on initialization of research on Drone technology in the ICAR. He regarded support of Government in establishing 36 seed hubs to meet the quality seed supply as a significant step towards achieving the higher oilseeds production. He stressed on the need for making further value-addition in castor to increase the export of castor products, reduce the gap from lab to land and value chain from seed to industry. Genome editing, speed breeding, marker associated breeding, etc. to be employed to break the intrinsic yield barriers of the energy rich oilseed crops.
Earlier, in his welcome address, Dr. A. Vishnuvardhan Reddy, Director, ICAR-IIOR, Hyderabad provided the status and background of vegetable oils in the country. He also mentioned about the import dependence of >60% (15 million t; Rs. 69,000 crores) for vegetable oil dominated by Palm oil. The significant achievement of increase in oilseeds production by 5.5 times to reach to 32 million tonnes from 6 million tonnes in sixties was commendable given the background of majority (>70%) Rainfed ecosystem, small farm holdings and unfavorable market environment.
Dr. Panjab Singh, Former Secretary (DARE) & DG (ICAR) marked his presence as the Chairman along with Dr. Mangala Rai, Former Secretary (DARE) & DG (ICAR) and Dr. V. Praveen Rao, Vice-Chancellor, Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University, Hyderabad as the Guests of Honor during the occasion.
