India is the home of oilseed diversity and one of the largest producers of oilseeds in the world.Oils are being extracted from plants, both annual and perennial, for edible and nonedible purposes. Oilseeds, the source of vegetable oils, occupy a signi cant place in India’s national economy, next only to foodgrains, accounting for about 10% of the cultivated area and value of all agricultural produce.
A large number of oilseed crops are grown in different regions under different agro climatic conditions. These crops are among the most widespread in small farm systems throughout India. Groundnut, rapeseed-mustard, sesame, saf ower and coconut are the traditionally cultivated oilseeds. From the nutrition perspective, oilseeds are rich sources of oils and proteins. They are also rich in carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals enhancing their nutritional characteristics. In India, 80% of the edible oil is processed by cold press mills in the small-scale sector on “ghanis” which operate on tiny amounts of capital but provide pure and nutritious oil to consumers locally. The diversity of indigenous oilseeds lends themselves to creating cultural diversity in food systems and economic democracy in systems of production and consumption.
Indigenous oilseeds being high in oil content are easy to process at small-scale decentralized levels with eco-friendly and health-friendly technologies. Thousands of artisans are self-employed in rural India in extracting oil from locally produced crops, for edible oil for humans and oilcake for cattle. The oil extracted through cold pressing indigenous technologies is fresh, nutritious, unadulterated, with natural avour of taste.
Navdanya brings you a rich diversity of India’s indigenous and desi oil seed varieties, we have conserved and are growing them for desi healthy oils. As it is natural for these farmers to freely swap seeds and save seeds which is been saved and grown in Navdanya seed bank across india and cold press from their ghanis. Celebrate this gift of diverse nutritions, health, organic food while contributing to the livelihood and ecological practices of the small marginal farmers.