MP farmers shift from soybean to urad for better prospects, productivity

By Sept this year, Urad bean recorded its highest-ever sown area nationwide at 4.21 mn hectares

The area sown under soyabean in Madhya Pradesh, the leader in soyabean production has fallen from the five-year average of 5.8 million hectares to five million hectares in the kharif (summer) season of 2017.

At the same time, the area under urad bean (black gram) has risen to 1.8 million hectares, as against the average of 850,000 hectares in the state.

The area under urad bean has been the highest nationwide also, at 4.21 million hectares (as of September 6). It clocked record productivity in Madhya Pradesh in the 2016 cropping season, when it doubled to 906 kg per hectare