Status of Nine Oilseed Crops in India: Trend and Decomposition Analysis

Oilseeds are cultivated in India in an area of 25.73 million hectares with a production of 25.30 million tonnes. Owing to the importance of oilseeds in the country the present study was conducted using secondary data collected from various sources. To fulfil the objectives of the study, data were divided into three periods. The results of the study brought out that during Period-I (1985–86 to 1994–95) marked by the launch of Technology Mission on Oilseeds (TMO) showed an impressive growth in area, production and productivity of all oilseeds by 4.23 per cent, 8.28 per cent and 3.89 per cent, respectively. Liberalization of oilseed sector in 1994 and subsequent move of bringing the import of oilseeds under Open General License proved to have negative effect on the domestic oilseed economy and there was a decline in the oilseeds production, though not significantly, during Period-II (1995–96 to 2004–05) but during Period-III (2005–06 to 2014–15), productivity increased significantly thereby production despite decline in area, however, these were non-significant. The study emphasised on increasing area under oilseeds in major growing states, dissemination of improved agricultural production technology among farming community for increasing production of oilseeds.