Chouhan wants farmers to ditch soya

Madhya Pradesh CM floats the idea as the crop cannot withstand bad weather or pests

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has set the alarm bells ringing for the soyabean crushing industry by floating the idea of phasing out its cultivation because it cannot withstand bad weather or pests.

The state, according to Chouhan, has lost the crop on 1.8 million hectares of a total 5.8 million hectare. "We are chalking out a long-term plan for other crops. The crop cycle needs to be changed as weather conditions are persistent for the last four seasons," the farmer-turned-politician said.

The Indore-based Soyabean Processors' Association said such a decision could aggravate shortage of their raw material. The association estimates this season's production at 4.4 million tonnes, an alarming new low for the past decade.

Madhya Pradesh is known as the soya bowl of India and contributes 53-55 per cent of the country's production. From three million tonnes in the 1980s production has climbed to 5.5 million tonnes now.

Tackling questions in his office over recent farmer suicides, Chouhan said they needed to change the crop cycle. "Fertility has declined as farmers repeatedly cultivate soyabean. Farmers need to plant other crops. We will ready a long-term plan," he added.

Farmers in the state have already switched over to paddy and its output has climbed from 2.3 million tonnes to six million tonnes.

"Soyabean is a sturdy crop and farmers have no immediate alternative. If they switch all of a sudden it will cause shortages in the domestic market," said Rajesh Agrawal, former chairman of the Soyabean Processors' Association.

"If Madhya Pradesh curtails production it will be an immediate loss to the local industry and business may move to other states like Karnataka," he added.

The Madhya Pradesh government is, however, more interested in paddy, moong, urad and even agro-forestry than soyabean.

"Farmers still use age-old varieties of soyabean like JS 335, JS 9560 or JS 9305. High-yield varieties like RVS 2001-4, JS 2029, 2034 and 2069, which can withstand pests and which have a shorter duration, will come to the field in three years. Till then farmers can try other crops, horticulture or even agro-forestry," said Rajesh Rajora, Madhya Pradesh's principal secretary for agriculture and farmers' welfare. "It does not mean we are phasing out soya immediately but we want to encourage farmers to move to a dual crop like soya-maize, soya-urad or soya-cotton as a cushion against bad weather and pests," he added.

Soya processors have to grapple with market speculation on crop condition and over the last five years prices of their raw-material have been hovering at Rs 2,700-3,800 per quintal. Also de-oiled cake exports have declined drastically.

The state's crushing capacity is 12.5 million tonnes against soyabean production that has never exceeded 6.1 million tonnes.

During the past five years the soyabean acreage in Madhya Pradesh has been 5.5-6.1 million hectares. The state has declared 114 tehsil (sub-districts) drought-hit this kharif season and a contingency fund of Rs 1,000 crore has been earmarked as interim relief for farmers.