Non-tariff initiatives are needed to boost oilseeds output
The Hindu Dated: June 09, 2020 By: G Chandrashekhar An agency report quoting unnamed government officials suggesting that India may hike customs duty on imported vegetable oils to fund its domestic oilseeds promotion programme is currently doing the rounds. If true, it is a bad idea. Over the years, tariff changes have made little difference to domestic oilseeds cultivation. Tariff hikes have hardly helped oilseed growers, but have surely enriched importers taking speculative position. Today, the fate of the Indian oilseed growers is as bad as it was, say 20 years ago. Often, changes in tariff from time to time have been either ill-timed or kneejerk or thoughtless or worse, the government succumbing to lobby pressure. The annual hike in minimum support price for key oilseeds is often nullified by either excessive import of vegetable oil or ill-timed tariff changes that depress domestic oilseed prices. Changes in import tariff are at best short-term fixes, and certainly n...