Soya cultivation gains ground in the Maharashtra

Farmers from Vidarbha, parts of western Maharashtra and Marathwada are finding soybean a safer bet than traditional crops such as cotton and jowar.

Consequently, the area under soya cultivation has increased by more than four times in the last decade.

A decade ago, only around 5 lakh acre was under soya cultivation in the state, which now stands at more than 22 lakh acre. In Latur district of Marathwada alone, the area under soya cultivation has gone up by 5 times this year, from around 50,000 acre to 2.5 lakh acre.

Speaking to Business Standard, the state agriculture commissioner S K Goel, said, "There is tremendous variance in the prices of cotton every year, so the farmer is not sure of what his produce will get."

Besides, cotton is much more prone to pest and worm attacks compared to soya. Soya has another advantage over cotton as failure of rains means big hit for cotton growers, while soya gives good yield despite rain failure, he said.

"However, for increasing soya acreage, the central government needs to change its duty structure for soyoil imports. Under the World Trade Organisation (WTO) norms, we can levy a duty on edible oil imports upto 300 per cent but currently there is only 45 per cent import duty on soya oil," said Goel.

An increase in duty will not only help the farmers but also help the solvent extraction industry in the country which is saddled with a lot of idle capacity.

Out of the total soya production only 18 per cent is used for oil extraction in the country, the rest is used for soya food products, he pointed out.

The increased demand for the produce for downstream soya products has also contributed to the increasing acreage under soya, according to Rajesh Agrawal, chairman, Soybean Processors Association of India.

"The farmer gets a price at least 20 per cent higher than his counterpart in Madhya Pradesh and other traditional soybean cropping regions, because of more progressive farming practices," Agrawal pointed out.

Besides, these farmers are also getting a much higher price for soybean than the minimum support price (MSP). Last year, farmers earned between Rs 1,300 and Rs 1,500 per quintal compared with the MSP of Rs 1,010 per quintal. This year the soybean price is at Rs 1,250 per quintal.

Crushing capacity in the state has also gone up by one million tonne last year, making the total crushing capacity in the region over three million tonne, he said.