Against the farmers’ claim in various districts, state government is unlikely to compensate soya crop losses due to heavy and continuous rains this year, although insiders in revenue and agriculture department have told Business Standard that some pockets have lost crop completely.
“We have received crop loss reports from only two districts, ie, Hoshangabad and Harda. The losses are negligible, farmers will not be compensated,” said a well-placed official in revenue department, who is supervising statewide crop loss survey.
On the other hand a well-placed official in agriculture department told Business Standard, “Low mandi arrival is self-evident that crop loss in Hoshangabad and Harda is not less than 20 per cent. We have seen some areas where crop has been damaged completely. Even if there is a crop, the yield is not more than five quintals per hectare. The crop in low-lying areas is badly damaged in various districts due to rhizoctonia solani and yellow mosaic virus. Rhizoctonia attacks roots of the plant and there is no way to revive the crop.”
Indore-based soyabean processor association of India (SOPA) also said the state has lost a total production of nearly five lakh tonnes in Hoshangabad, Harda, Sehore, Vidisha and Raisen districts. “Had there been no crop loss, we might have crossed a record production of 66 lakh tonnes this year, yet the crop was better in rest of the state and country,” Rajesh Agrawal, spokesperson of SOPA told Business Standard.
Soya had revised its estimate at 61.70 lakh tonnes of production in Madhya Pradesh a few days ago. It had also said crop in Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka and rest of India is better. “The total production is estimated at 119.50 lakh tonnes in India this year and the crop is better than previous years,” said Agrawal.
Madhya Pradesh received a long spell of rains from June 12 to first week of September that developed fungus in crop at least in eight districts. Further, the moisture stress affected the podding that triggered irrecoverable crop losses.
