New Delhi, Apr 27 (FN Agency) The local poultry industry and soybean processors’ association have locked horns over the former’s proposal to government for permitting import of genetically modified (GM) soybean meal. The Soybean Processors Association of India or SOPA has written to Ministry of Animal Husbandry requesting to reject the poultry industry’s import proposal.
“The poultry industry projects a demand of 90 lakh tons of soybean meal which is totally wrong and is not supported by facts. This inflated demand is being given only to make a case for imports,” SOPA Chairman Davish Jain has written to Animal Husbandry Secretary Atul Chaturvedi. The association claimed that there would be a carryover stock of almost 20 lakh tons of uncrushed soybean at the end of the season in September 2022. “Under the circumstances, there is no justification for import of soybean meal. Higher prices of soybean and soybean meal is a reality which has to be accepted, as the farmer is not willing to sell at the prices of yesteryears,” it said in the letter.
The government had last year relaxed the rules for import of 12 lakh metric ton of crushed and de-oiled GM soya cake saying that the move would benefit farmers, poultry farmers and fishermen in a big way. The relaxation came after clarification and prior permission from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change which said that “Since soya de-oiled and crushed (DOC) cake does not contain any living modified organism, this Ministry has no concerns and no objection for import of soya cakes from an environmental angle.”