With the monsoon arriving at the right time, the area under soybean has gone up by 10% this year to 111.734 lakh hectare with farmers completing sowing operations in three-and-a-half weeks. Farmers commenced sowing operations on June 15 and completed them on July 10. A trend of farmers showing preference for soybean has been seen this season after cotton crop was attacked by Pink Bollworm last year. According to data gathered by the Soybean Processors Association of India (Sopa), the all-India area under acreage has increased by 10%. Last year, the total area under soybean was 101.561 lakh hectare.
During the period from August 3-12, 2018, two Sopa teams conducted a field survey of soybean crop in 23 districts of Madhya Pradesh, 12 districts of Maharashtra, and 6 districts of Rajasthan. DN Pathak, executive director, Sopa, said since the crop is at such a stage that it would be too premature to give any production estimates at this time except that the condition is good and there are no major pest or disease attacks.” Overall, the soybean crop is in normal condition and farmers are spraying insecticide at the right time, maintaining a good control over insects and diseases,” he said, adding that weeds are also under control by inter-cultural practices and chemical uses.
However, around 5-10% light soil areas of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan have been affected due to moisture stress during the flowering and pod formation stage. This will affect the yields, Pathak pointed out. In Maharashtra, inter-cropping with red gram has been seen in large tracts. During the survey, some water stress was seen in small areas in MP, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, causing poor vegetative growth. This will have adverse affect on the yields, though small, he said. However, rains have been reported after the survey in all the areas and there is likely to be no further damage, he added. In Indore, Shajapur, Khandwa, Khargone, Barwani, Guna, Ashok Nagar, Sagar and Damoh districts of Madhya Pradesh, there was no rainfall for 15-20 days initially and the crop suffered due to moisture stress, affecting productivity.
In some parts of Jalna, Latur, Akola, Buldhana, Bid and Ushmanabad districts of Maharashtra, there was no rainfall for 15-20 days initially and in 10-15% light soil area, the crop suffered due to moisture stress, affecting productivity. In Rajasthan as well, the overall crop was suffering from water stress at the flowering stage because of long dry spell. However, rains in August have minimised the loss of productivity, Pathak said. The area under soybean in Madhya Pradesh has risen to 54 lakh hectare from 50 lakh hectare, a rise of 7.98% over the previous year. In Maharashtra, the area under cultivation rose to 38.692 lakh hectare from 34.484 lakh hectare, a 12.20% rise over the previous year.
Last year, after cotton was infested by pink bollworm, sowing of soybean saw a substantial increase in Maharashtra. In Rajasthan as well, the area rose to 10,455 lakh hectare as against 9.245 lakh hectare, a 13% rise over last season. For this Kharif season, the central government has raised the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of the oilseed to `3,399 per quintal, from `3,050 a quintal last year. Although the hike in the minimum support price (MSP) of cotton for the kharif 2018 season was 2.5 times that of soybean but farmers in several key cotton growing regions appear to have migrated to the oilseed, finding it potentially more remunerative. Pathak pointed out that since soybean and cotton are competing crops in the kharif season, farmers will obviously prefer the one which will give them higher returns.
