Wardha soybean fetches Rs 1,000 above support price, but poor yield leaves farmers struggling to recover costs
Open-market soybean rates in Wardha exceed the Rs 5,707 support price, yet a sharp fall in output after erratic rain means farmers may not recover their costs.
Rain failed Wardha district this year, and soybean production has fallen as a result. The support price for soybean has been declared at Rs 5,707, but the open market is offering about Rs 1,000 more. Every year farmers worried about soybean market rates; this time that worry is absent. However, with production down, farmers will not get as much benefit from this as they should.
The agriculture department had set a target of sowing soybean on 1,25,654.94 hectares in the district this year. But little rain fell at the start of the monsoon, so sowing was delayed. As a result, sowing could be done on only 1,19,740.70 hectares. Every year soybean is sown over more than the targeted area. This time rain was absent from August, and production fell sharply.
Before the new soybean reached the market, some leftover stock was arriving, which was being offered about Rs 7,000. With Dussehra and Diwali now near, farmers are harvesting the soybean left standing in their fields and bringing it to market to sell. This has brought rates down somewhat. Soybean is now fetching Rs 5,900 to Rs 6,700. Farmers say that because of the heavy fall in production, they will find it hard to recover their cost of production even at Rs 1,000 above the support price.
Every year, when soybean arrived in the market, rates were kept low because of moisture in the grain. NAFED too offered less than the support price. This year there has been no rain for a month and a half. In the harsh sun, filled pods have burst and the grain has dried hard. That is also why good rates are being fetched in the market.
Rates normally fall as soon as new soybean arrives, so there is a demand that NAFED begin procurement at the support price. This year the situation is the reverse. The open market is giving more than the support price, so it is being said that NAFED procurement will stay closed.
Amit Gawande, chairman of the Wardha Agricultural Produce Market Committee, said, "Soybean production has fallen. In the severely drought-hit districts of Marathwada, soybean was not produced at all. This has increased the shortage of soybean. That is why the open market is giving higher rates. With rain absent for some months, cotton will begin to dry up. Taking a rabi crop is not possible for many farmers, so the farmer's entire hope rests on the soybean crop."
