Noting that India imports 56% of its edible oil needs, a Parliamentary committee has recommended that, to protect farmers from cheap imports, the government should devise such a mechanism wherein import duties on edible oils get dynamically adjusted based on domestic production levels.
In its report, the Standing Committee on Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Food Processing said, “The Committee strongly recommend that the Government should devise such mechanism wherein import duties get dynamically adjusted based on domestic production levels to protect farmers from cheap imports.”
Headed by Congress member Charanjit Singh Channi, the panel said, “The Committee also feel that 20% safeguard duty or as such percentage as felt relevant by the concerned Government authorities needs to be imposed on Palm Oil imports if and when global prices fall below $800/tonne or any other rate fixed by the Government which would help & espouse the cause of Indian farmers.”
“…in order to incentivise production of palm oil, NMEO-OP (National Mission on Edible Oils-Oil Palm) needs to be fastracked and the department also needs to provide Viability Gap Payments (VGP) adequately for Fresh Fruit Bunches (FFBs) and subsidise planting material costs upto 80%,” the report said.
