Good mustard sowing increases hopes for bumper harvest

Mustard has been sown in around 4.70 mn hectares till August 14 -- almost 27% more than same period last year

A surge in mustard sowing in the past week, aided by a dip in temperatures in northern India, has raised hopes of a bumper crop in 2013-14. The mustard crop year starts from November and ends in October.

According to the latest data from the agriculture department, mustard has been sown on around 4.70 million hectares till August 14, up 27 per cent from the same period last year.

The surge has come from Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, the three biggest mustard-growing regions.

In Rajasthan, the crop has been sown in 2.7 million hectares till November 14, up 48.3 per cent from the same period last year. In Uttar Pradesh, in 800,000 hectares so far, almost 70 per cent higher than last year. In Madhya Pradesh, in 620,000 hectares, seven per cent more than last year.

“There has been a sudden drop in temperatures in north India, accompanied by fog, which along with good moisture content in the soil and adequate water levels in reservoirs, has created the conditions for a surge in acreage in the past week,” B V Mehta, executive director of Solvent Extractors Association of India, told Business Standard. He added if climatic conditions remain favourable in the next few weeks, India’s production in 2013-14 could be better than last year’s.

According to government estimates, India produced 7.5 million tonnes of mustard seeds last year. The best production in recent times was in 2010-11, of eight million tonnes. A rise in mustard production leads to a rise in domestic edible oil production, as the crop has high oil content.

“Sowing of mustard crop is good in this season and the area under cultivation is expected to rise by 20 per cent, which if weather remains favourable, could lead to a total production of 7.8 million tonnes of mustard seed in 2013-14,” said Umesh Verma, spokesperson of Puri Oil Mills Limited, one of India's oldest edible oil mills.

Verma added a good harvest is not expected to have any tangible impact on the prices as it depends on many other supplementary factors apart from output.

According to Mehta of SEA, even if mustard production goes up, it might still not be enough to limit the incremental surge in edible oil imports. This is because India's demand far outstrips the supply.

“India’s edible oil demand is rising by 0.8-0.9 million (800,000-900,000) tonnes annually, for which domestic oilseeds production has to increase by at least 2.5-3.0 million tonnes in any given year. Assuming that mustard seed production rises by a million tonnes in 2013-14, it will still yield just 0.4 million (400,000) tonnes of extra oil, which is not enough to cover even half the annual incremental increase in demand," said Mehta.

Meanwhile, in other crops, data showed that sowing of wheat has slowed down a bit after the initial spurt seen last week because of delayed harvest of basmati crop in Punjab and Haryana, while the area under pulses rose to 7.57 million hectares, almost 20 per cent more than last year's.