Vidarbha farmers turn to soybean, shun cotton

An increasing number of farmers in the Vidarbha region are opting for soybean over cotton this Kharif season.

Official figures for Nagpur taluka, more urbanised and progressive among other places in Vidarbha, indicate that soybean has overtaken cotton, and is fast becoming the mainstay for farmers here.

The observation is significant in the backdrop of cotton farmers' suicides that Vidarbha have been witnessing in the past few years.

The relief package announced by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, when he visited the region 10 days ago, has not stemmed the spate of suicides in Vidarbha. Four more farmers ended their life in the past 24 hours "" taking the total number to 27 since the PM's visit.

Nagpur taluka, however, has proved an exception with no suicides reported in the recent past. According to the Nagpur taluka agriculture office, the area under soybean cultivation has grown from 9,000 hectares a few years ago to 16,186 hectares last year.

This is expected to improve this year as 15,800 hectares has already gone to soybean till June end. Cotton, on the other hand, has come down to 6,600 hectares. Last year the area under cotton cultivation was 9,415 hectares.

The lure of cotton, experts point out, was due to the high price the crop fetched in the government-sponsored monopoly purchase scheme.

The Cotton Growers' Co-operative Marketing Federation, which runs the scheme, has fallen on hard times and now has huge losses to contend with. Yet cotton, on a quintal per quintal comparison in market value, fetches more than soybean.

A Dekate, taluka agriculture officer, said sowing was delayed this year on account of the late arrival of monsoon. "Even then we have seen a marked increase in land under soybean cultivation. The shift has been almost 10 to 15 per cent and this is now becoming an annual feature," he said.

Tukaram Patil, a farmer, blamed the government's policies and the late payments of cotton purchases for the shift towards soybean. Patil, however, has not abandoned the cotton cultivation completely but has opted for soybean on 15 acres of land.

"We are cotton growers and have seen good times. Cotton is still a wonderful crop, but demands more care, fertilisers, pesticides, and water than soybean," said Patil.

With prices of fertilisers and pesticides increasing, cotton has become expensive to cultivate, SA Raut, agriculture officer of the Butibori circle, noted.

A quintal of soybean fetched between Rs 1,200 and Rs 2,000 last year and the yield was 4.8 quintal per acre. Prices are expected to fall if the area under soybean cultivation increases this year. Cotton was quoted around Rs 2,000 per quintal and may maintain that level this year too.

Nathu Waghmare, a marginal farmer, said, "With soybean the money is guaranteed and market is determined. If cotton fails, we get nothing."

Farmers, by opting for soybean, know that they would live to see another season.