Potassium depletion in MP to hit soybean output

Soybean cultivation, though the lifeline of millions of farmers in Madhya Pradesh, is slowly depleting the potassium content in the soil, said GS Chauhan, director, National Research Centre for Soybean (NRCS). If not replenished, the average soy production in the state could fall by 15-20 per cent, he said.

"Preliminary findings of a research done by NRCS shows that potassium content in the soil of main areas where the crop is cultivated in Madhya Pradesh has gone down significantly in the last few years. So much so that if proper replenishments are not done, the average yield could drop by as much as 20 per cent in the next few years," Chauhan said.

NRCS comes under the central government's Indian Council of Agriculture Research, and conducts basic, strategic and applied research on soybean.

Potassium along with phosphorus and sulphate form the vital ingredients of soil nutrient NPK. Deficiency or excess of any of the three could lead to drop in average yield.

"Our studies have shown that as soybean crop extracts maximum amount of potassium from the soil, potash content has dropped significantly in soy growing areas of the state due to successive cultivation," Chauhan said.

NRCS is now recommending farmers to increase potassium content in soil where soybean is to be cultivated to 40 kg per hectare from 20 kg, he said.

In India, bulk of the soybean crop is cultivated in Madhya Pradesh. The average yield per hectare is around 800-1,000 kg, way below the world average of 2,000-2,500 kg per hectare.

To encourage farmers to cultivate more soybean along with continuous potassium replenishment, NRCS has asked the central government to raise the minimum support price (MSP) to Rs 1,200 per 100 kg from Rs 1,010 at present, Chauhan said.

"The current MSP is too low to provide any incentive to farmers, hence we have recommended to the government to raise the MSP," he said.

Declining returns on soy cultivation has been the bane of several farmers in Madhya Pradesh, so much so that experts believe that if returns remain poor, soy acreage in the state could shift to other crops.

Five years ago, 100 kg of soybean used to fetch around Rs 1,800-2,000 in the open market, now the returns are hardly around Rs 1,100-1,300, that makes soy cultivation unprofitable for farmers.

Soy scientists and researchers have developed a new seed variety for India's third largest soy producing state of Rajasthan.

"The new seed variety RKS-18 has been developed keeping in mind the soil and weather requirements of Rajasthan," Chauhan said.

"It's a high yielding variety and starts giving crop in 100 days. The seed has been developed in active coordination with NRCS scientists," he said.

Rajasthan is an upcoming state in soy cultivation. In 2004-05 (November-October), soybean was cultivated in around 550,000 hectares in the state.