New Delhi, July 29 -- The government's aim of reducing agricultural imports and making the country self-sufficient in oilseeds seems to be facing setbacks this kharif season due to unremunerative prices for farmers and growing demand for ethanol.

The area on which import-dependent crops such as oilseeds is sown has declined, according to data from the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare on 25 July. The area under oilseeds dropped by 383,000 hectares from last year.

The fall in oilseeds sowing is mainly due to a sharp decline in the cultivation of soybean - India's main kharif oilseed crop - although there were small increases in areas under groundnut and sesamum. The total area of oilseeds cultivation dipped 2% to 16.7 million h...