SAFFLOWER- A NEW AGE OIL SEED CROP

In recent times there has been much talk regarding a minor oil seed crop called Safflower.It basically belongs to the same family as Sunflower.The crop was originally grown in the Mediterranean,north eastern Africa & south western Asia & India for the flowers that are used in making red & yellow dyes for clothing and food preparation But nowadays its use has been broadbased to include oil,meal,birdseed,&raw materials for various industrial products.Infact it is increasingly used in cosmetics & cooking oil thesedays. Safflower seed contains 30-40% oil and nutritionally similar to sunflower.India is ranked number one in global safflower production & acerage with almost 3lakh hectre but due to poor productivity it constitutes only 29% of the global production The current productivity is only 630kg/hect as compared to the global productivity of 893kg/hect and it constitutes seventh place in the area dedicated to oilseeds in India Maharashtra,karnataka,Gujurat&Andhrapradesh are the major safflower producing states Safflower as a source for pigment ,medicinal & nutritional use can be encouraged More importantly Indian safflower has a special demand as bird feed in international market due to special appearance. The time has come to concentrate on these minor oil produce as it has increased value added component.With established oil seed crops taking precedence,a slight deviation from the cropping pattern can work wonders where the former fails to deliver I presume it would be a good alternative to the established oil crops.