Rapeseed/mustard seed output to rise despite lower acreage

Output likely to go up 21% due to favourbale climate

Despite a marginal decline in acreage, rapeseed / mustard seed output is likely to remain 20.95 per cent higher this season on favourable climatic conditions. Extended rainfall during the last monsoon season, coupled with chilling cold, helped sustain soil moisture, a key ingredient for better crop prospects, for long, resulting in an exponential growth in yield this year.

A survey conducted by the apex trade body, Solvent Extractors’ Association (SEA), showed the rapeseed / mustard seed output to remain up at 7.11 million tonnes (mt) this year, compared with 5.88 mt in the previous year. Last year, however, SEA had forecast the season’s output at 6.27 mt, which was later revised downwards to 5.88 mt when the actual output hit mandis.

This year, however, variable issues have already been factored in while assessing the rapeseed / mustard seed crop. Hence, the actual output is likely to remain at around the same level as estimated.

The survey, however, forecast the average yield at 1,103 kg/hectare (ha) for 2012-13, an increase of 23.52 per cent from the previous year’s level at 893 kg/ha. Good subsoil moisture at the time of sowing, useful showers during January and February, severe cold and continuous favourable weather have helped increase the productivity, said the survey.

The Union ministry of agriculture has estimated the total area under rapeseed/mustard seed crop at 6.45 million ha for 2012-13, compared with 6.58 million ha in the previous year. Rapeseed/mustard seed is a rabi crop sown largely in October with the beginning of a gradual decline in soil moisture in the field. Harvesting of this crop begins in the second fortnight of February and continues until April.

This year, however, due to late sowing and high temperature in the beginning of the season, the crop was delayed by 15-20 days. Also, the estimate is based on current weather conditions and expectations the cold temperature would sustain for the next two-three weeks. However, if temperature rises in the next few days, it may have some impact on yields and overall production.

Notably, SEA distributed the Gujarat Mustard-3 variety (GM-3) among farmers, which has shown very encouraging results.

In the beginning of the rabi season, SEA had procured this mustard seed variety and distributed to the progressive farmers through the members – solvent extraction plants--across Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and also in Maharashtra. The GM-3 crop area has shown between 30 and 50 per cent increase in yield this year, compared with the conventional seeds used by farmers in the previous years.

If the seed of this variety is abundantly made available and propagated, it will not be difficult to achieve the target of 10 mt of rapeseed / mustard seed in the next three-to-five years, as happened in Bt cotton in last one decade.