As monsoon advances, soyabean planting begins in MP

With the monsoon finally advancing to Central heartland, the sowing of soyabean – a major kharif oilseed crop – has formally commenced in the key producing State of Madhya Pradesh.

“Sowing has begun, though certain areas are yet to receive showers. If it rains over the next few days across the State, we expect farmers to complete sowing by July 25,” said Rajesh Agarwal, spokesperson for the Indore- based Soyabean Processors Association of India.

Madhya Pradesh is the largest soyabean growing State followed by Maharashtra.

Delayed arrival of monsoon and deficient rains so far this year have pushed back sowing of the oilseed crop by about three weeks in these States.

Agarwal said the follow-up rains during the rest of monsoon period be crucial to determine the yields and output, though there’s likely to be a marginal shortfall in overall acreage.

So far, soyabean has been planted on about close to 9 lakh hectares (lh) against over 83 lh in the corresponding last year. Last year soyabean was planted on about 120 lh across the country.

The sharp decline in acreage this year is mainly due to scanty rains. So far, the rainfall deficit across the country since the beginning of monsoon stood at 41 per cent. The country has received actual rainfall of 170.4 mm against the normal of 289.2 mm during the June 1-July 14 period. The rain deficit in the key soyabean growing regions of Western MP stood at 63 per cent, East MP at 52 per cent and Vidarbha at 66 per cent. In east Rajasthan, the rain deficit stood at 63 per cent, while in Gujarat it was 91 per cent.

Also, the quality of seeds remain a concern this year as excess rains last year had damaged the crop impacting the quality and triggering a shortage of certified seed. To overcome the shortfall, the Agriculture Ministry had relaxed the germination standards to 60 per cent from the earlier 70 per cent. The farmers are also advised to plant more seeds per hectare to ensure there is higher germination.

Soyabean output last year stood at 11.94 million tonnes over previous year’s 14.66 million tonnes.