Self-Sufficiency and Allocative Efficiency Case of Edible Oils M L Dantwala GULATl, SHARMA and KOHLI (GSK) in theirarticte 'Self-Sufficiency and Allocative Efficiency: Case of Edible Oils' (EPW, March 30) state: 'The analysis of growth of production of oilseeds reveals that the evolution of technological breakthrough in terms of pure yield effect has been rather slow." A look at Table 2 of their article reveals that during TE 1986-87 and TE 1993-94, the percentage change in yield per hectare of oilseeds at 24.66 was distinctly higher than that of rice and wheal (21.04 and 21.65) and only slightly less than I hat of food grains at 25.35. Strange though it may seem, the spectacular increase of 40.68 per cent in the yield per hectare in coarse cereals significantly contributed to the increase in the overall increase in the yield of cereals. The yield growth in regard to the two fastest growing edible oils, soyabean and sunflower, is in fact the highest among all crops; 34.07 and 25.46 per cent, respectively, with the exception of cotton (27.87). GSK preferred not to comment on the commendable increase in the productivity of oilseeds cultivation.