Rains spell better days for soya farmers
The revival of monsoons in western and central parts of the country over the past fortnight is expected to narrow down the gap in soyabean cultivation between this year and the last.
By Ratna Ganguli, TNN |
KOLKATA: The revival of monsoons in western and central parts of the country over the past fortnight is expected to narrow down the gap in soyabean cultivation between this year and the last.
Earlier it was apprehended that soyabean sowing cannot be taken up beyond 70 lakh hectares in the current kharif season, as against last year’s coverage of 76 lakh hectares. The apprehension has been triggered by deficiency in rainfall in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and parts of Maharashtra in June.
As these three states together cover 90% of area under soyabean, dry spell during the first six weeks of sowing in these states has allowed farmers to complete sowing of the crop in 67-70 lakh hectares up to mid-July.
However, with the onset of monsoons in full vigour since a fortnight ago in central and western parts of the country, soyabean sowing has again gathered momentum. Given the current pace of sowing, it is estimated that soyabean coverage this year may finally go up at least to 73 lakh hectares by end of July. Sowing of the crop in the kharif season, which starts from June, continues till July.
At this level, though area under soyabean would fall short of last year, the recent revival of monsoon in soyabean growing states is expected to partly help in narrowing down the gap in shortfall — from the previous estimate of 6 lakh hectares to 3 lakh hectares, said Rajesh Agrawal, chairman, Soyabean Processors Association of India (Sopa).
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Apart from adverse climate in early part of the sowing, diversion from soyabean to some other crops has also led to shrinkage in its coverage in area. With prices of pulses ruling higher than that of soyabean this year, several farmers in Maharashtra, who grew soyabean last year, have switched over to pulses this year, Mr Agrawal said. The expected shrinkage in acreage under soyabean is likely to drive down soyabean production in the ‘06-07 seasons (July-June) from the last year’s level of 70 lakh tonnes. But how far will it come down cannot be predicted at this stage, he said.
This is because apart from the area under cultivation, the average yield rate also influences the crop size. Last year, due to conducive climate, the yield rate of soyabean went up to about 1,000 kg per hectare from about 800 kg per hectare in ‘04-05.
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