Why Safflower Cultivation is a boon for drought-prone fields?

India is the main producer of safflower in the world. It is cultivated in 2095 lakh hectares of the country. Its total production is 1095 lakh tonnes. This is such an oilseed that it costs more than mustard. In order to make the country self-sufficient in the matter of oilseed crops, the government also encourages safflower cultivation. That’s why, till the year 2015, where the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of Safflower used to be Rs. 50 per quintal less than mustard. At the same time, the Narendra Modi government not only made Safflower at par with mustard in 2016 but even after that, the MSP was fixed higher for safflower as compared to mustard.

Government incentive for Safflower Cultivation

The MSP of safflower has been continuously increasing in such a way that for the year 2022-23, its price has been kept at about Rs 400 per quintal, more than mustard. While the MSP of mustard is Rs 5050 per quintal, the price of safflower seeds has been fixed at Rs 5441. There is such a difference between the prices of mustard and safflower when after the year 2021-22, the MSP of mustard was increased by Rs 400, while in the case of safflower, this increase was only Rs 114 per quintal.

By the way, like all oilseeds, farmers do not have to resort to MSP to get the right price for safflower. They usually get a higher price than MSP from the traders in the agriculture market because the production of oilseeds in the country does not even meet our domestic demand. India currently consumes around 250 lakh tonnes of edible oil annually. While our domestic production is only around 80 lakh tonnes. The remaining two-thirds of the edible oil demand is met by imports. 

MSP of Rabi Crops (in rupees per quintal) during the tenure of the Modi Government

*Production cost includes labour of farmer’s family, tillage, seed, fertilizer, irrigation, medicine, farm rent, labour wages, farm equipment and all capital expenditure. (Source – Press Information Bureau, Government of India) 

Unique properties of Safflower 

According to Pramod Kumar Gupta, scientist, Department of Plant Protection, Jawaharlal Nehru Agricultural University, Jabalpur, and Yogita Gharde, scientist, ICAR-Directorate of Weed Research, Jabalpur, safflower is a drought-tolerant crop. After germination of safflower seeds in the field after sowing, generally irrigation is not required till the harvest. Because safflower plants grow relatively slowly on the surface of the soil, while below the soil its roots grow rapidly and are soon able to meet moisture needs, making safflower plants self-supporting.

Cultivation of safflower has the potential to change the picture of unirrigated areas. The importance of this fact is directly related to the condition of our agriculture sector. Because according to the Land use statistics i.e. ‘Land Use Statistics 2016-17’ written in the Annual Report 2020-2021 of the Union Ministry of Agriculture, out of the total cultivated land in the country, the area of irrigated area is 6.86 crore hectares, which is the total area of India. It is 34.26 percent of the cultivable land and 49.2 percent of the land that can be cultivated in the country.

According to the same report, the total geographical area of India is 32.87 million hectares. Out of this, 20.02 crore hectares (60.9%) of the land can be cultivated. But crops are produced only in 139.4 million hectares, which is 42.4% of the country’s total geographical area and 69.6% of the country’s total cultivable land. This means that even now more than 30 percent of the country’s total cultivable land is not being cultivated.

Safflower is full of Medicinal Properties

Safflower is such an oilseed which is full of medicinal properties. Consumption of safflower oil is very beneficial for high blood pressure and heart patients, as it contains very little cholesterol. Massaging with safflower oil provides great relief in muscle injury, headache and joint pain. From safflower seeds 30 to 36 percent nutritious edible oil i.e. fatty element emerges. Tea made from safflower petals is used as a tonic, while the juice of green safflower plants has been found to be good for mental patients. In areas where there is a danger of damage to the crops by wild animals, there is a double benefit of taking thorny varieties of safflower for fencing the fields.

Also Read: Commercial cultivation of Munja grass on infertile land and get handsome income

Safflower Oil is good for Health 

Compared to other edible oils, safflower oil has a high concentration of unsaturated fatty acids such as Linoleic acid (76%) and Oleic acid (14%). Explain that fat is a major and essential source of our food. While the body gets a lot of energy (calories) from the fatty elements, they also play a complex role in the digestion of some vitamins and minerals. But the consumption of excess fatty element increases the weight of the body and many health related problems arise.

In the language of chemistry, fatty acids are organic compounds whose molecules are made up of complex chains of carbon and hydrogen atoms. They are of both saturated and unsaturated types. Fatty acids in whose molecules all the atomic bonds are single are called saturated and those whose molecules contain double or triple bonds in addition to single bonds are called unsaturated. While animal meat and dairy products are the main sources of saturated fatty acids, edible oils are rich in unsaturated fatty acids.

Also Read: High income from cultivation of Ganoderma Mushroom

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