Mustard

Soil moisture substantially improved owing to vigorous post-monsoon showers across many parts of India, which swayed farmers to plant more area under rabi crops to get the best yields

Good rainfall and soil moisture drive farmers in Rajasthan to shift from wheat to mustard and gram this Rabi season, with acreage for both crops set to rise.

Mustard crop, an indigenous oilseed grown in Rabi season, can play an important role in achieving self-sufficiency in domestic output of edible oils and there is a need to increase acreage, promote use of high-yielding seed varieties and provide assured prices to farmers to boost yield and production, according to industry experts. According to the latest government data, India's rapeseed and mustard production stood at 126.06 lakh tonnes in 2024-25 crop year (July-June) with acreage of 86.29 lakh hectares and an average yield of 1,461 kg per hectare. The area and production have declined from 2023-24 when acreage was 91.83 lakh hectares while output was 132.59 lakh tonnes. Puri Oil Mills Ltd Managing Director Vivek Puri said, "The idea that mustard oil should play a vital role in bridging the edible oil demand-supply gap and in reducing import dependency is an integral part of our company's vision." He noted that there is a huge scope to expand mustard cultivation as well as yield

Field research by TERI shows nano-sulphur can push mustard yield by 25-30 per cent similar to genetically modified DMH-11 trials but by using conventional varieties

According to the agriculture department, mustard production is estimated at 5.5 million tonnes (mt) this season, down from 6.2 mt last year

Farmers of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat will benefit from this decision, an official statement said

The Supreme Court on Thursday deferred to April 15 the hearing on pleas against the validity of the Centre's 2022 decision granting conditional approval on the environmental release of genetically modified (GM) mustard crop. A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka, Sudhanshu Dhulia and Ujjal Bhuyan adjourned the matter after attorney general R Venkataramani sought time to argue the matter. Venkataramani said a series of discussions at the highest level of the government were underway. Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the petitioners, submitted the special bench was directed long ago to hear the matter on Thursday and sought to argue. The top court, however, said it wanted to hear the matter at length without any discontinuity. The matter was then posted for hearing on April 15 and 16. On July 23, 2024, the apex court delivered a split verdict on the validity of the Centre's 2022 decision granting conditional approval for environmental release of GM mustard crop. It, however, ...

The drop in mustard acreage could be attributed to low price realisation by oilseed farmers, especially those growing soybean and groundnut in the kharif season

The Supreme Court on Tuesday gave a split verdict on the validity of the Centre's 2022 decisions on the environmental release of mustard hybrid DMH-11 for seed production and testing. A bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Sanjay Karol heard pleas challenging the October 18, 2022, decision of the GEAC -- the country's regulator for genetically modified organisms -- recommending environment release and the subsequent decision on October 25, approving the environmental release of transgenic mustard hybrid DMH-11. After hearing the pleas, the bench gave a divergent opinion. The bench directed the issue to be placed before the Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud for adjudication by the appropriate bench. However, both the judges were unanimous in directing the Centre to formulate a national policy on Genetically Modified (GM) crops. The bench directed that the environment ministry will undertake a consultation process with all the stakeholders and experts, preferably in four months

The yield increases were realised using innovative farming practices and advanced technology

Mustard crop acreage is estimated to have risen 5 per cent to over 100 lakh hectares in the rabi season of the 2023-24 crop year, according to industry data. In a statement, the Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEA) said it has nominated RMSI Cropalytics Pvt Ltd for an all-India rape mustard crop survey. Mustard is an important oilseed. RMSI has submitted the third report based on remote sensing. As per the report, SEA said, "all-India mustard crop acreage was reported at 100.39 lakh hectares, which is 5 per cent more than last year's remote sensing-based estimate of 95.76 lakh hectares". Farmers in many districts in Gujarat and Rajasthan have opted for other crops instead of mustard due to lower price realisation. In Rajasthan, the acreage is estimated to have increased to 37,82,222 hectares in the rabi season of 2023-24 from 37,43,272 hectares in the previous year. Mustard acreage in Uttar Pradesh has grown to 17,76,025 hectares from 14,00,584 hectares, while in Madhya

"The experts peg the output at around 1-1.2 mt lower than the estimates," said Anil Chatar, joint secretary of the Mustard Oil Producers Association of India

According to available government data, exports from Rajasthan touched Rs 70,000 crore in the 2022-2023. Trade pundits expect it to reach Rs 80,000 crore in 2023-2024

The coalition said that the Union of India presented a new paper with regard to the Centre of Origin of Brassica juncea being outside India

Though, for many crops, there is still time before the full final harvest hits the markets, market players have already started speculating and predicting the harvest

While the acreage drop in Bihar could be due to delayed harvest of paddy, the fall in area in Rajasthan as compared to last year might be due to reporting delays because of polls

According to the latest data, wheat has been sown in around 8.60 million hectares till Friday, which was 5.49 per cent lower than the same period last year

Data shows that water levels in the 40-odd reservoirs of southern India as on November 9 was at 44 per cent of their live capacity at Full Reservoir Levels

Rabi crops, also known as winter crops, are grown in October and November, and harvested in spring. Major rabi crops in India include wheat, barley, mustard, maize, sesame and peas

The minister said mustard and gram were being procured from April 1 on support price in the state. Till June 6, 347,000 tonnes of gram and mustard have been procured from over 140,000 farmers